The Bloodied Arms of War
by Piccylo
Summary: SEQUAL TO MANIA OF TEARING SEAMS. Piccolo left Earth into alien battlegrounds without clear reason. He's losing more sanity and chasing the cure through strings of bodies, and that cure is even more deranged. FINISHED
1. A Supply of Strangers

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragonball, nor DBZ, not GT. I don't know anyone that has anything to do with it. Although I respect Akira Toriyama greatly, I've not even met him. Damn.

I have several excuses for not working on this immediately, but I'll skip them. If you've yet to have read the fics leading up to this, I _think _that you'll be fine. You'll probably be confused in the beginning, but it should phase out as the fic goes on.

This was the planned fic; the one that I intended to put the most depth in and last the longest. This gives me a bit of a worry, as my previous fics weren't supposed to be that long. Not on my life did I imagine that GVD would reach such a number of chapters.

* * *

Piccolo didn't dream much that night. All he saw was that woman in the dress, again. She stood upon a hill, with a dim, bleak sky behind her. This time, her face wasn't obscured as a lack of form, but he still didn't see it. To be more precise, he saw her face, but it had no skin upon it.

Earth remained uneventful. As far as it could be told, the serial killings did not continue past that one night, and life didn't take long to go back to normal. There was still peace, and there wasn't a slight of hostility in the air. It was so calm and blissful that it was almost creepy.

Goku and Gohan managed to not worry about the strange feeling that they had. They decided that it had passed, and it was probably only that string of murders (however, "only" didn't hold well in their minds, since they felt somewhat ashamed that they weren't able to help anyone). After they put it behind them, they didn't even remember it until several months later, when that ship landed.

They touched down in an area that was certainly meant to keep them from gaining any unnecessary attention, but nothing that large could hope to get past the radar systems at Capsule Corp. Bulma immediately took her two Saiya-jin men with her to check it out.

"It should be over here," she said, looking up momentarily from a small console.

Vegita grunted. "I don't see why it's necessary for you to drag us along. I don't give a damn about some alien ship. Not like there's anybody that can pose a threat to us."

"Yeah, Mama," Trunks concurred, "What's the point?"

"Really! Just because you two are practically invincible doesn't mean that I'm not. Do you think that I'm going to go somewhere where there might be a potential threat to my life by myself?"

Although this actually made Vegita quit his confrontation, Trunks continued, "Not my fault you're weak..." A simple glare from his mother made him repeal these words.

Bulma finally caught a glimpse of a large, foreign-looking object and sprinted ahead. Upon approaching it, she was able to tell by its intricate and unusual design by the hull that it was created by makers that she had yet to have seen, perhaps an entirely different race. The outer surface didn't appear to be made of any material that she was familiar with, formed in a fashion that reminded her of an upside-down acorn on stilts. Protruding from the bottom was a cylindrical object that she figured was the entrance, but it showed no seams of any doors.

One peculiar feature was these vase-shaped things that was all over the "cap" of the acorn. She watched it a while as gas was expended from them every once in a while, being the only movement it made in the hour that she sat there (she would have waited longer, but Vegita was becoming impatient).

It didn't take long before the whole group was informed. The way that Bulma described it, it sounded big enough to hold and maintain a score of people, perhaps more depending on the inner layout of the ship. However, they questioned whether there was anyone in there or not. Not a sound came from it past the mechanical functions, and they couldn't sense a soul in there.

Their questions didn't remain unanswered for too long. Right when Bulma was about to set up a mini-surveillance camera to watch it after they left, the cylindrical figure rose to reveal four people.

A man, very distinguishably dressed and definitely alien, was surrounded with others that looked lesser in stature or rank than he. They stepped forward to the (predominantly) Human group in unison, displaying a pace that was almost military, and stopped before them.

The first man motioned in an exaggerated way, forcing back the loose folds of his coat as he did something between a bow and offering a handshake. The gesture was almost comical, and it didn't get any reaction other than some sweat drops. He remained in that position until the man at his left (with a uniform that, although similar, looked more like a doctor's or scientist's) coughed and spoke himself. "Sir, that's not the proper greeting. You just combined three different Earth gestures."

The superior shot up into upright position and towards the doctor. "You told me that they were greeting gestures!"

"Yes, but you don't do them all at once, sir."

He groaned and looked back at the Human group. "My apologies. I'm not used to your customs, and my top scientist gave me misleading material to go by."

"My material was not in any way _misleading_! I'll have you know--"

The superior ignored him and continued, "I am General Rabiori of the Pasuko Empire, under the order of Queen Komugiko."

After a moment of silence, the doctor rolled his eyes and pushed his glasses up a little farther on this nose. "We were sent here to study the amount of leylines and streams that seem to crisscross on this very planet, and during the research, I discovered local media about you and your achievements. We know of your strength, and we bring no malevolence to you or your socie--"

"Before the good doctor gets long winded," interrupted Rabiori, causing the doctor to seem even more annoyed, "may I escort you into our modest ship?"

As the general gestured towards the cylinder, the group seemed reluctant to enter with them. Even though these aliens were trying to treat them as superiors, they were definitely suppressing their ki, and it was pretty easy to tell that these people were strong; even the doctor, who looked thin and frail, seemed to be much above average. However, they didn't show any nature that they would attack them inside, so the Saiya-jin (except the children, who were held back by their mothers) agreed to enter.

The aliens (which they found were called "Pasuko-jin") predominantly had pale, yellowish with blue markings that came from behind. Their hair was in strands as thick as the Ethernet cords from the early days of computer networking, and ranged in colors from a bold yellow, to red, to spinach green. Otherwise, they were rather similar to most Humanoids that populate civilized galaxies.

General Rabiori was a rather high-ranking military officer, and he didn't try to hide the fact. His dark uniform was elaborate and covered with clanging medals and bright ropes. It was obvious that he liked to brag and, generally, hear himself talk. He was most proud of his most recent achievement: assassinating the head General of the opposing empire.

Dr. Arufuredo managed to introduce himself properly and get a few words in before Rabiori could cut him off again. The bangs of his short, green hair had a habit of falling over into his eyes whenever Rabiori referred to him coolly or ordered him to do something menial. He hardly talked unless Rabiori made a factual error or simply faltered in the conversation.

The two explained the mission that brought them to Earth: there are a series of leylines and communication streams that reach into vast distances, which several scientists have gone into research to use these lines effectively, and there's already a lot of progress. However, the progress was largely that of scientists in the Puroeriun Empire, whose army seized without mercy. They were known to wipe out whole populations of planets under a "pillage and burn" operation. No man, woman, or child was ever left alive, and the people who lived in the Empire lived in terror; nothing was more frightening than the tyranny that was thrust upon them.

Rabiori didn't hesitate to ask them to enlist, trying to assure that it was for a good cause. The three Saiya-jin thought for an awkward moment before declining; their women certainly wouldn't allow it, and they were positive of this. The general nodded and continued, "Don't worry, then. We will not be bringing a fight here, since the empires are both far away from here. We're only here to study. However, if you change your mind, let me know."

* * *

Many of you guys must be confused to no end. The tone is rather light (considering), everything is vague, and now you have to read about these weird alien creatures, one of which has the same arrogance scale as Vegita and the same level of pompous behavior as Bulma (to make similies with familiar entities, so to speak). The tone _should _even out as the story goes along, but I can't guarentee anything.

Furthurmore, if this or any chapters get way too confusing to read, I could take them back and rework them if necessary. I mention this because it seems that my writing ability has been stressed lately.


	2. Substance of a Remote Universe

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Dragonball; I'm not affiliated with anyone that has anything to do with it; some/many of the subsequent chapters will have violence, alcohol, probably drugs, and sexual innuendo (if not more).

College giveth, and college taketh away. I've generally had a lot of work, and all that stuff that I've been crooning about. Anyway, I'll start on the fic, already.

* * *

The Pasuko-jin continued their research peacefully, not attacking the Humans or taking any valuable resources. But, even though the Earthen fighters turned down the offer of a military position, they did decide that sparring every so often with them would be beneficial. They found that the small faction had 15 or 16 men all together, and roughly a dozen were fighters themselves. One on one, they were enough of a problem to deal with, but when group went against group, the Saiya-jin and Ningen found themselves at a great disadvantage. The aliens had a superior formation from the years of fighting in an army, and the main strategist, Dr. Arufuredo, was the best of these motives, even though he was one of the weakest fighters.

Of course, this spawned the idea of contacting Piccolo to try to even the numbers a bit more, but no one was able to find him. He wasn't at any of his normal training areas, nor was he at Kami's temple. They asked Dende while they were there, but he shook his head, saying that Piccolo's presence had left Earth months before. He knew not to where or why. When Mr. Popo was asked, he wouldn't give a straight answer and would tend the gardens instead of elaborating.

Arufuredo didn't seem to want to share his knowledge of strategy, saying that it went against military law to speak of such things to those outside the army. They could tell that he was lying, but regardless, he refused to tell them, consistant that he could be tried for war crimes for doing so. This, they didn't seem to doubt as much.

Regardless, the time that they spent with them provided them more exposure to the knowledge of the war between the empires. The Pasuko Empire was only recently inherited by Queen Komugiko from her uncle (as she was the only heir). Previously, the empire was named Penne (after an older emperor of it several generations back), but as most of the soldiers were now Pasuko-jin, it had been changed when she took power. Queen Komugiko was in her mid-to-late 20's in Earth's years, and the Pasuko-jin age a little more slowly than Humans, so when she acquired the empire just 8 or so years ago, she was still a young maiden.

Komugiko-joou was sought after by several bachelors (before and after her inheritence), but she had refused them, saying that it was her obligation to remain unbound until the Puroeriun Empire was dealt with. But, even such a young, strong woman, so vibrant with life had been severely effected by the war. She had fallen ill not too long after she acquired her title (a phase called "royal transition", where the emperor or empress gains the strength to lead). She gained her strength, apparently, but she had been physically wrecked through the transition. Some said it was because of her youth; some said it was because she was female; but most agreed that it was because she took the position unmarried

Arufuredo showed the Earthlings a picture of her.

It was a beautiful woman, adorned with armor and a strong expression. Her cheek glowed with a youthful shine, and her posture was nothing under commendable. She was certainly an important figure, and a mere still of her practically radiated her brilliance. She stood alone before her throne, gesturing outwards with her sword, allowing light to shine all around her and her armor like she was a jewel in a museum. Her brilliant red hair and almost greenish-golden skin only seemed to accent it even more.

Then another picture was shown to them. It was the same woman, but the youthful skin had become leathery and dry. The skin was flat and paled, even dusty, and the only shine on her was where moisture hung around the corner of her lips and the edges of where clear tubes full of liquid were connected to her skin from a tank that had been formatted into her throne. She looked old and bent, and sat with her wiry arms outstretched upon the oversized armrests, clasping with long, thin fingers. The starry eyes had turned into a dull, frightening glare.

Rabiori said that he fought so that the queen may be happy and feel free to marry. When the Earthlings rose inquisitive brows to the thought of why someone would want to marry her now, Arufuredo explained that there had been an emperor who didn't marry till after the transition, and he same thing happened to him. His physical anatomy returned not long after. Besides, there were still several suitors that wished for her hand, even if it was only political.

It wasn't long before Rabiori found a place to brag. "And it will soon end. _Yes!_ I finally defeated General Atsarute, a feat that, even though many brigades and full legions had gone to accomplish and failed,_ I _managed to do it!" He proceeded to explain Atsarute's death, noting the strategy that he (or rather, Arufuredo) devised, taking it upon himself to ally with a small sect of people who had recently been robbed of a powerful talisman.

"We tracked Atsarute by means of the light and energy that the talisman emitted. It was to be used for some unknown purpose of sorcery, but we managed to interrupt the spell in such a way that completely obliterated anyone and anything within a 10 meter radius (which Atsarute was in) and it was too sudden to escape." Rabiori grinned proudly. Arufuredo rolled his eyes.

The Saiya-jin soon grew tired of Rabiori's stories and opted to leave. Before they stepped out, one of the soldiers shouted to them that the scientists were coming very close to the conclusion of the research before they would be leaving. "It's just a heads-up for you so that you know there's not too many more training sessions, or if you decide to join us," the soldier said, with an almost bright air to it.

Three months after the landing, the project had come to a close. They left early in the morning, and ended up returning late the next night. The ship came back with damage and some wounded, and any inquiries by the Humans were disregarded until they brought everything back to order.

When everything calmed down, they explained what happened: a few Puroeriun ships were waiting on the other side of the Red Stream (a line in space of ionic storms, almost infinitely long, that separates the two "universes"), and attacked relentlessly. They took a lot of damage, but more importantly, they could not land anywhere close to the stream to do repairs, for fear of more damage from the storms or the enemy. So, they decided that it was safest to return to Earth. It turned out to be the best answer; the data acquired from the research was, on the most part, destroyed.

They were stuck on Earth, attempting to redo some of the experiments and fixing the ship, while they sent a report back to the base for further instructions. Since the scientists already had an idea of what was going on, they we're regaining the data with pretty decent progress. Repairs were going well, and everyone had healed completely. Tension turned out to be next to nothing (outside of their homesickness) until they finally recieved word. Then, Hell broke loose.

There were orders to return ASAP and present the data, then immediately track down an individual and present him with two options: join the Pasuko Empire, or die.

"Those are very gruff orders," Gohan said, putting his shirt back on after the training session, "How high up did this command come?"

"The queen herself," Rabiori said with his eyes closed and his head bowed, as if it were an oracle from the gods, "We cannot possibly go against her orders."

Gohan nodded but maintained a slightly anxious look on his face. "I know... but confronting one man and giving him only two options? Is it absolutely necessary?"

Arufuredo jumped in before he could let his superior gain a word of his patriotic rambling. "General Atsarute was to be dealt with by case, and this man that we're to go after now is presumed to be very strong." The doctor flipped through the pages of his report. "A Namekku-sei-jin male... I'm not surprised, they're everywhere. Those people reproduce faster than bacteria as long as there's a female about..."

The Earthlings looked genuinely confused and stayed silent for a moment. "So... wait... what kind of Namekku-sei-jin are these?" Kuririn finally asked.

Arufuredo glanced up from the notes. "Umm... I'm just talking about them in general."

Gohan kept his brow raised "And _what _do they look like?"

He scratched his head. "They're generally green with pointy ears and fangs... little antennae things on their heads... I'm surprised that you never saw one, but then again, this planet is sort of in the 'boondocks', so to speak."

They all just sort of nodded in unison, and Goku told him about Piccolo, Dende, Kami-sama, and all of the people that they met on Namekku-sei.

"So what's so confusing?" Rabiori seemed rather disinterested in the confusion of backwater planets. "You've seen one, you've seen them all."

"There are different kinds of Namekku-sei-jin, it's just the biggest amount is..." The doctor was ordered to cut off with a hand motion.

Kuririn gave a nervous laugh. "Well, you see, when we went to Namekku-sei, we were told that there... pardon if this is somehow incorrect... that there were no female Namekku-sei-jin."

The whole ship began laughing. Some of the men were shouting over the guffaw, "It seems damn near it because there's so few!" and, "The few there are end up hiding after they get a mate, anyway, so it doesn't matter!" It wasn't long before "Namekku-sei-jin jokes" were being told throughout the ship, and more than half were somehow sexual. This just freaked the poor Z-fighters out more than ever.

"If you really need it, I can explain the whole thing to you..." The doctor said between his dying chuckles, "but, regardless, they're a great asset to an army, no matter what kind of Namekku-sei-jin they are. This particular one happens to be a bit of a loose cannon. He's not particularly opposing anyone, but he just takes out anyone in his way, which happens to include one of our caravans. He's not one in the database, surprisingly, so we haven't a clue who he is, but we have a few rather decent photos here..." He shuffled through the report and pulled out a few stills. Had it not been for these circumstances, the Z-fighters might not have seen the report and found out exactly why Piccolo was not to be found on Earth. Had it not been for these circumstances, the group wouldn't have gone with Rabiori's faction across the Red Stream into the war. This universe is peaceful, but the calmest (yet most restless) of all the fighters went to the one across the line.

* * *

I've decided to have this rated PG-13 until the heavy stuff comes. End of A/N. 


	3. I'm going, whether you like it or not!

Disclaimer: It's in chapter... 2.

Yerg. Reading it a few days after I posted it, a good deal of chapter two looks like crap to me... especially since I didn't get to show a transition of time without proper paragraphs. Curse you, website!

* * *

There was a large fight among the families over who should go and who should stay. The Saiya-jin men, of course, were disallowed by the women in their lives to do such a thing, but Kuririn and #18 couldn't possibly go by themselves (especially with Marron). However, it was agreed that _someone _should go.

"I know Piccolo-san the best out of the group," Gohan said, keeping a firm voice to cover the fear of his mother and girlfriend yelling at him, "so I _have _to go. He was acting weird when I last saw him, so I feel obligated."

Goku nodded. "Something very strange has been happening. If we want to see him again, we'll have to go across that Red Stream thing."

"Really," Bulma sighed. "I don't see why you have to leave just to do something like that. Why don't you just gather the Dragonballs and ask Shenlong to bring him back?"

"We asked Dende before we called everyone together," Gohan said, "He said that neither Shenlong nor Porunga are able to extend their powers past the ionic storms of the stream."

A growl came from Chi-chi. "You're _not _going alone, and I will _not _allow you both to leave again!"

Goten looked up to his mother. "Can I go with him, okaa-san? Please?"

She huffed. "What is with you men; always going off to fight, leaving us behind like we're nothing to be concerned with!? I've been alone or a widow for so many years, worrying about my husband and my children all of the time. You're not leaving me behind!" Chi-chi stood and put her hands to her hips in an authoritarian manner. "This time, I'm going with you!"

"I am, too!" Videl stood with her.

Gohan and Goku had mirror faces of their uncomfortable grins and were about to reason with them when Arufuredo interrupted.

"We can fit and sustain up to eight of you guys... maybe ten or more if we're thrifty. We could also allow you to stay in more secure areas when we reach the other side. Chances are, we can afford several of you coming, so, discuss matters of time away from your homes rather than from each other."

----- !! # !! -----

Satan stood beside his punching bag in dead air before-- "**_What?!_** Why would you need to leave from Earth?! You told me that they're military men, but you're too _strong _to join any old army, _alien or not_! And the barracks is _no _place for a young woman like yourself, especially with those rowdy men, away from their wives and always thinking about their own deaths. I will _not _allow my daughter to be subjected to that kind of environment!"

Videl hurried to express the real means of the case. "Father, I'm not joining their army... at least, not really. But Gohan is going to search for someone, and I won't let him go alone!"

"Gohan?" It took a moment for him to remember who that was. "Who would he be looking for that joining an alien army is so important? Are you sure that you want to follow a guy like that?"

"He's going so that he might find that green guy that you say looks like that demon king--" (Satan shuddered to these words) "-They're best friends. He trained Gohan to fight, and he was apparently acting really weird before he left, so Gohan's worried about him. I don't know him that well, but I want to be with Gohan incase something happens."

"The _last _place that I want you to be is a dangerous place where that boy might fail! You haven't thought this through! You might get _killed _while helping to get that creepy Demon guy. Your life is _not _worth retrieving that weird alien, and I won't allow you to go."

"But--"

"No 'but's!"

"Father! You're not being reasonable! I want to go because Gohan might _die _over there! It doesn't have to do with me getting his friend back; it has to do with me being able to help him and to not just watch him leave and never see him again."

"What does that matter? Don't they have those 'dragonpearls' or whatever that can give wishes? Isn't that how everyone came back to life? If that isn't how, then I'd really like to know." He was quite serious; he never really understood what happened.

"I don't know. They said that they can't grant wishes that far, and if Gohan dies over there... I--" Her voice suddenly became softer. "I can't do anything about it..."

Satan looked upon his daughter solemnly for a moment then lowered his head and spoke in an equally as soft voice. "Very well. It's not like I can stop you anymore. You've become a grown woman, so..." He turned from her towards the dojo wall. "At least promise me that you'll be careful." He thought for a moment. "Perhaps you should take Buu with you?" Turning his head towards her, he saw her discontent with his last comment broadly displayed on her face.

"It's a bit too long of a journey to let him hang around, Father..." Her brow twitched slightly.

----- !! # !! -----

It was a difficult week. Goten and Trunks begged to the point of being grand annoyances to go, and Vegita was only interested in going for training purposes (but he would not be convinced to stay, and Bulma would not be convinced to let him go). Marron would certainly be left behind if #18 and Kuririn chose to go. And, of course, someone had to stay behind to protect their home while they were gone. But, amazingly, everyone came to a conclusion before the week was over.

They decided on 7 people to go: Goku, Gohan, Vegita, Videl, Chi-chi, Bulma, and Kuririn. The Saiya-jin kids were to be left under the care of their grandparents, and #18 would stay behind with Marron. The other fighters (Yamcha, Buu, Tenshinhan, Chouzu) were informed and asked to help hold down the fort. This was all revealed in a little get-together they had before shoving their luggage into the cargo. Goodbyes were said before they went into the ship and lifted off, nothing too unusual for the group, but the knowledge of what may come gave the valedictions a more of a sad tone than usual.

----- !! # !! -----

Twenty minutes after leaving the solar system, Vegita and Bulma were still staring each other down.

"You should have stayed home," Vegita said for the fifteenth time.

"Like I'm about to let you skip around another universe by yourself? It's my obligation as a scientist to go and observe it. You, however, only want to go because you think there are strong people there."

"So? Can I help it if Earth is boring? It's still a better reason than going to 'observe it.'"

"I have more than one reason, unlike you."

"Oh? Enlighten me on them. You didn't mention them before."

"You didn't _ask _before. You just kept telling me that I should go home because I'm weak. Baka."

"Hurry and spit it out!"

Her eyes rolled. "How do you think Piccolo got to their universe, hmm? Do you think that he used some magic Namekku-sei-jin thingy to teleport himself there?"

"Well, how else would he get there? It's not like he has a spaceship of his own."

She stood and pulled out her PDA from her pocket, then connected some odd little chip to the bottom of it and began to tap on the screen on the pen.

"_Now _what are you doing?"

She tapped and dragged some digital image across the screen. "I'm taking a look to see if the homing device can still send signals past that Red Stream."

"Homing device?" This seemed to wake Gohan up, who had resolved that studying would be more beneficial than listening to the couple.

"Piccolo actually _does _have a ship of his own, a Capsule Corp. one at that. He bought the best model from me several months ago. Payed in cash and everything."

This gained several responses from those who knew Piccolo:

"You gave him a ship?"

"He owns money?"

"Why the Hell did you agree to that?!"

"Was he acting really odd at the time?"

"Did you notice anything strange about him?"

"Where did he manage to get that money? Did he rob a bank or something?!"

It continued thusly until Bulma hushed them and asked if she could finally check on the homing device. When there wasn't a complaint, she worked with the screen again and blinked. "I have a signal. It's not very strong or definite, but it's definitely there."

"That means that you know where he is, right?" Goku looked over her shoulder.

"Wait a sec... I need to check something..." The device beeped a few times. "Most of the ship's information isn't coming in, but it looks like the ship might be damaged and has been inactive for a while. There's a good chance that it was in too much disrepair and that he abandoned it."

Kuririn pulled back his shoulders in a tension. "So, he's _stuck _in that universe?"

"I'm not sure..." she said, "the lack of information might be due to the interference of the ionic storms." She turned off the PDA and put it back in her pocket. "I'll check it again after we cross."

* * *

I think that the pictures on the OC art site are broken right now; I'm too lazy to check and/or fix them right now. Plus, work. Behind on Latin: only on chapter 40, class is at 47. Lovely.   
Oh, and about the OC art, don't expect anymore for a while for the same reason. I've barely drawn at all since I came to college. 


	4. All Hail the Queen

Disclaimer: It's in chapter 2. There's a disclaimer in chapter 1, but the one in chapter 2 covers the warnings of content.

I wonder where my other readers went... they must not like the idea of so many damn sequels (don't blame them, rightly). I know, these things have been mostly about Piccolo, and all of the sudden he's only made one appearance in 3 chapters. Changing anytime soon? A bit...

* * *

Piccolo was on the road again. He had to make sure that he was only idle on the weekends; otherwise, Neil and Kami-sama would ask questions. On those weekends, he would steal and kill to his hearts content, just as it was advised to him. However, his father, who played adviser, had been away for quite some time. He separated not long after they came to this universe, assuring Piccolo that everything will work out if he follows everything that he said. The only troubling advice was when he questioned where he should go now, the old Daimaou only said, "Follow the direction that your intuition tends for." 

He'd been doing so for the past while, and he found that the direction kept changing. It didn't take him long to realize that he was following something (what he was following remains unknown), and whatever he was following was very active and had migration patterns that were quite erratic.

Once again, he must have been gaining on it. It would slow down or stop for a short period of time, but it could easily make up the time later. Piccolo wasn't able to tell that he was closer by feeling or sensing ki, but from the path of destruction that it left behind. It tore apart people, animals, and even plants, normally leaving the throat (or stalk) agape. He ran into these casualties about once every three days, and he managed to convince Kami-sama and Neil that these were just bi-products of the unstable society of the planets that he was on (although, he saw that it was actually quite peaceful and balanced, but he knew how to deceive).

Something was different with the destruction this time; there were survivors. In the past, very little life was left, but this time, he found survivors, men with horrified faces nearby, telling stories about what happened.

"It moved to fast to discern clearly," one particular fellow with a shaky hand said, "But it had to be some sort of monster. I've not seen any alien or animal move like that. It looked nude, and I think that it was bipedal. I don't know if it had skin, or fur, or scales, but to be damn honest, I didn't care. I just wanted to get away. It killed all of the fighters in our group so quickly, ripping through their necks and spraying blood everywhere, then charged off suddenly from view. It was only after them, I guess, but I don't know why..."

Piccolo began to regret what he was getting into. Somehow, the idea that the thing he was following now only killed strong fighters seemed more foreboding than its destruction all life in its path. It seemed to be getting more intelligent; it must have been cutting down who its victims for a purpose.

Farther along, he found himself at a spaceport. The thing that he was following was definitely there, idle and somewhere on the premises. His direction brought him to a ship; it had the symbol of the empire that owned this planet (and the authorities that he'd been swatting around) on its hull. He couldn't read the language printed below the symbol, but he overheard someone in the distance pointing it out as a "Class IV Specimen Vehicle" in conversation.

But Neil and Kami-sama were getting restless.

Apparently, Kami-sama could feel the presence of the monster and continued to mentally probe Piccolo. _What is that thing? It's definitely dangerous and... There's so much insane and malevolent nature surrounding it...._

Piccolo involuntarily blinked. _You can sense it?_

_Yes. You've been going the same direction as it for a while, haven't you? I wanted to ask why, but you've been ignoring us as much as possible._

_That's because you're a couple of morons who can't mind their own business!_

_You keep insisting that these things do not affect us,_ Neil grumbled, _but they do._

This continued a while. Piccolo could have stood there all day, arguing with his "comrades", but loud groans, hums, and clamor of machinery stole his attention. The ship began to rumble, and he stepped back to watch as it lifted from the ground. It shot into the sky, past the clouds, and disappeared.

Piccolo growled and stomped towards the tower. Now, he had to force the destination of that ship out of the personnel _and _get another ship to follow.

.--()--.

The trip through the Red Stream was rough. They almost expected another attack, but the forces of the Puroeriun Empire had been more discouraged as of late without their great general. The rest of the trip was uneventful (outside of any Vegita and/or food related skirmishes) and they came to the home planet with relative ease.

Everyone began pouring out of the ship. Rabiori immediately ordered for the surface damage to be repaired, and Arufuredo gathered the reports and logs. They were to be presented to the Queen immediately by the senior officers. The doctor offered to the Earthlings to come and explain the situation of their Namekku-sei-jin friend, but Rabiori immediately got into a fit.

"It is not your place to make such a decision as to who can meet the Queen! _I _am the leader of this team! _I _make these decisions!"

"And _you _fail to recognize that _I _am actually your superior in rank!" He hissed back. "When we are outside the ship, my orders override yours! If I say that they may join us, they shall."

Rabiori repealed in a disgusted manner. "I can't see how a scientist can outrank a well-decorated general..."

Thus it was decided, and as they went towards the throne room, Arufuredo put the alarmed guards at ease with a wave as the largely alien (in the eyes of a Pasuko-jin, anyway) group passed. The halls were lavish in decoration with sculpture of their mythology carved into the stone walls. The large double door at the end was made of some sort of heavy, grey metal, smithed with depictions of their old gods, standing as if guarding the room. They opened in a slow, fluid-like motion, to a wide room. Its floor rose in steps into a platform that reached either wall, and sitting upon it was Komugiko-joou, just as decrepit looking as in the picture. Her guards came to attention and made room to allow them approach.

The queen looked as if she was sleeping (or dead), her eyes closed and her head lowered. They stood motionless until her eyelids pulled back to show the cold glare and she straightened in her throne. "Doctor, you have the files?"

"Yes, my Empress," he bowed and extended the black booklets forward. She made a motion, and a guard took them and left.

She nodded. "I have another mission for you, but first--" she scanned the Earthlings for a moment, as if trying to decide something about them; "I wish to speak with you, General Rabiori."

He quickly stepped forward and shoved the doctor back, then made an overly-graceful bow. "Yes, my Empress?"

"This concerns your eradication of General Atsarute--" She paused a moment. "I know that you have given me a full report, but we recently found some possible contradictions. Tell me, what is a dead demon called?"

He was puzzled a moment. "A dead demon, my Empress?"

"Yes."

It took a moment to get out of the stupor. "A fiend. That's what the old fairy tales say, anyway."

"And what do you call a demon that has died but its corpse still walks?"

He was clearly getting more nervous. "A-a walking fiend, my Empress."

"Now, you know, in order to be a _walking _fiend, they have to have a corpse. Your report said that Atsarute was completely vaporized."

"Y-yes..."

"Now, I must tell you, I didn't get a chance to properly reward you for your assessment of the situation. Vaporizing Atsarute kept such a scenario from happening. Step forward, I shall do so now."

Rather surprised by the change of tone in her voice, he quickly did so. Komugiko stood and came closer herself. "And as a reward..." Five spike-like tubes shot from the tank formatted upon her throne into the General. They pulled him up, suspending the screaming man in the air. "Either way, you have _failed_. I did not order you to take care of Atsarute. If that devil _had _been completely destroyed, I would not have been able to do _this!_"

Before the group, Rabiori seemed to shrink under his clothes. The muscle and fat receded as if he was getting sucked dry. When the tank began to bubble and rise in content, they became aware that that was the case. "Atsarute is to be brought to me! I shall suck out _every last drop _of moisture from that reanimated corpse as well, and gain all that ungodly power for my own world's prosperity!" After his screams had long turned into raspy breaths and then into silence, and the chalky matter left behind crumbled into dust. The tubes receded back into the tank and she sat. "Arufuredo."

He came to attention, sweating from what he had just witnessed. "Yes, my Empress?"

"Atsarute has certainly been killed, but the body is still walking," she said, regaining a calm face, "Luckily, it has recently been quarantined. As you know, there's never been a reliable study on walking fiends, thus there is so much speculation that it is only a myth, so the corpse will be studied before it is brought to me. You shall accompany the transports and the other scientists to ensure that it doesn't escape."

"Yes, my Empress," he bowed. She made a light chuckle. "You're still frightened. I can tell by your sweat. But, I can also tell that you're glad. It warms me that you wish to help me to gain Atsarute's power. Now, tell me, what is the purpose of your guests?"

He rose. "They are acquaintances of the Namekku-sei-jin that you ordered us to find, my Empress."

"Acquaintances, is it? They're rather strong acquaintances. What is their business here exactly?"

Gohan stole himself forward. "Pardon, your highness, but that Namekku-sei-jin, Piccolo, is our friend and fighting comrade back on Earth. He had recently vanished, and we discovered that he came to this universe. Would you perhaps consider that we take him back instead of forcing him to join your army?"

She was rather shocked by his abruptness, and the rest of the Earthlings bit their lips and clasped back, half expecting her to kill him as well. Instead, she laughed and accepted, on the condition that they helped with the other mission and that Piccolo himself did not wish to join her barracks. "Although I'm rather partial to Namekku-sei-jin men, particularly ones like him, they're everywhere. As much as I'd like to have some Namekku-sei-jin fighting by my side, under such conditions of being associated with such a determined group, I shall accept it." She grinned a moment. "However, I _will _be offering more than a soldier's salary; he may get my most sought treasure after I renounce my unbridled position after I ensure Atsarute's utter destruction."

* * *

There's one thing that really sucks about having a lot of work: If I _know _that you can't spare time to play, I refuse to do so. However, I have more problems getting it done because I haven't properly relaxed, and I can't let myself relax because I have work. Argh! 


	5. Only to Find the Traitor

Disclaimer: Check out chapter 2.

I'm _so _close to the end of the semester, now. I have 2 finals left, which I'll start studying for immediately. But, what's important, things are winding down. I can afford to put some recreational writing in (as opposed to the required formals, informals, and Latin verse to English verse).

* * *

Arufuredo didn't waste time re-selecting the group (it was essentially the same group, but there were changes in positions and duties; while most were kept, some were omitted and some were added). Their shuttle was changed to something a bit more compact and fuel-efficient. He spoke very little more than his orders, and only waited as everything was transfered between the ships so that they could leave.

Goku brought in the last of the luggage; an old briefcase that Chi-Chi insisted on bringing. To be quite honest, he never saw it before in his life. The thing showed damage from years, and was probably older than Gohan. Curiosity kept him rather close to it, waiting for the moment where Chi-Chi might not be around to scold him for snooping (he already attempted several times and was briskly pummeled with each instance). He still didn't get the chance; Chi-Chi was right behind him, rushing him into the shuttle.

"Aww, c'mon, Chi-Chi! What is it? You said that it wasn't yours, but you insisted on bringing it, anyway."

She shook her head. "It might not be mine, but its very _private_. Do you want to invade someone's privacy?"

He tilted his head. "Is it underwear?"

"There's nothing important about that ragged box, Kakarotto," Vegita growled, "The only thing you _should _be interested in is why the good doctor is being so fucking _quiet_." He glared back to the side, towards the corner that Arufuredo seemed to be still trying to regain his composure.

"Manners, Vegita! He just saw a friend of his get executed by his queen! That's enough to shake anyone up and regret their position!" Bulma fumed a bit at her husband.

The room would have been completely silent following her statement if Arufuredo didn't begin to chuckle.

"You're right. I'm shook up; still frightened; questioning the system to which I serve... but not for those reasons." He waved a still-trembling hand for all of the soldiers to be at ease, implying that he had to share something important. "The queen noticed my fear and my joy. She noticed the fear elevate a bit when she called upon me. I feared that she knew why I feared and rejoiced. I could care less about that pompous bastard Rabiori. My fear began much earlier-- when she mentioned the 'walking fiend'..."

Gohan thought for a moment. "I suppose hearing that your greatest adversary is still fighting even after you killed him would be unsettling..."

Arufuredo gestured otherwise. "In a sense, it's the opposite. Being a _walking fiend_ requires Atsarute to have died. I wanted Atsarute to survive our attack _intact_ and no longer be a target of the army. I may love my benevolent queen, but I wish to serve those forces instead. In short, I am a traitor."

.----------------------.

Kami-sama and Neil screamed at him through the whole thing. He would have killed each and every man in the tower had their voices not rung in his ears each time he tried. Regardless, it was easy to get the information that he wanted from the personnel. His "fame" of being a destructive figure on the planet required little effort or negotiation to get through to these people. They also "volunteered" one of their ships to take him there, with a preset course and everything so that he wouldn't have to pilot it himself.

Piccolo threw his few belongings that he had been dragging around over into the nearby closet and sat, about to go into meditation. The two were no longer screaming at him, but still projected their discontent at the events and the blatant attempts at keeping them in the dark about it.

"Look," he said aloud, "You know that there's something wrong happening here. It's one thing for mine and Kami's personalities to meld to an extent, but for the melding to cause so much stress between us... This didn't happen when I merged with Neil. Not only did our personalities and minds stay separate, but there was no tension; just existance."

_Are you suggesting that _I'm _the cause of this?_ Kami-sama shouted.

"Your's as well as father's..." He looked idly over at the bag he brought, soaking with blood on the bottom. Almost unconsciously he mumbled several things, most of which didn't make any sense to Neil or Kami-sama, until he said, "Hantoparu Ganab Siolofajih..."

The two were so struck with the Namekku-sei-go phrase that they made the host body shiver. _Mania of the tearing seams, _Neil echoed, _I didn't think that it was possible. **Fuck...**_

_Why didn't you tell us this earlier?_

Piccolo wasn't listening. Something about how that burlap bag containing Uwaki's severed head leaked brought back a memory, but it's full value was still obscured and locked away by the madness. He strained to get to this tantalizing information, feeling that it somehow holds importance, but he could touch upon nothing.

.----------------------.

The soldiers weren't at all surprised; they already knew and agreed beforehand. But the Earthlings were stunned and didn't know who to make out as the enemy or as the friend in this universe, and this admitted treason didn't help their outlook in any way.

"I wasn't drafted into the army," he continued, "but I didn't come in by choice, either. I went through a series of promotions and transfers that ended up in the military, and kept going up... After a while, you begin to see all those figures and lists that are kept from the public. The Puroeruin-- or rather Atsarute's legions (as General Atsarute owns the major forces and it is not confined to a single race or rule) commits atrocities that our armies do not; that is true. Men, women, children; nothing is left. Everything is pillaged and burned. The only thing that _doesn't_ occur during their crimes is the ravaging of women; Atsarute calls it a waste of looting and killing time.

"However, no matter how much moral our armies could be, the death counts are staggeringly one-sided. The Pasuko casualties are almost the entire roster of the participating legions, and the only figures that we have of casualties in Atsarute's legion are 'subjected numbers', meaning that they're going purely by how many of their guys are lying on the ground, and even this broad scale yields a number that is remarkably small."

"So_ that's _why you want to serve that army? Because they have better odds?" Bulma stared at him in disbelief. "That's _not _why someone should fight. You should--"

"--Fight for something I believe in?" He finished her comment. "Trust me, it does have to do with that. Although my queen is an excellent leader and much kinder than Atsarute to others, she's set up a political tariff against the 'Puroeruin Empire', which is really a series of planets that are often more economically associated with Atsarute than politically. Atsarute owns planets, and is royalty to the home world, but does not set out to simply take every planet in grasp. Many of these planets have their own very capable armies. It's not uncommon for them to work in conjunction with Atsarute's army, but the same can easily be said for any assault/defense ally.

"So, the tariff alienates too much to help our society in any way, and the Pasuko Empire (which is an empire to the core) will stretch out our own resources too taut to work properly, and it will collapse by the people's expense."

There was a pause. "And... when you say that you're queen is 'benevolent'..."

"Well, perhaps benevolence is a subjective observation, but you certainly didn't feel threatened by her during the encounter, did you? She was, if nothing else, rather conciliatory to you and your cause, correct?"

The others reluctantly nodded. Although she was surprising and even frightening, she was amiable to them, perhaps even fond of them. This brought up another question.

"And that... um, 'treasure' that she spoke of..." Kuririn coughed out, "..Would that be--"

Arufuredo finished, "--Her hand in marriage? Yes, that's _exactly _what she's talking about. It might unsettle you a bit, but it's actually quite normal... past the idea that she doesn't mind marrying someone that she hasn't really met. You see, Namekku-sei-jin are... how should I put this... aesthetically pleasing to our race. Hell, even I'm rather partial to Namekku-sei-jin women..."

Bulma smirked. "We could tell by how you described them to us earlier."

He adjusted his glasses and coughed. "Anyway, Komugiko-joou, I've heard it told, is very fond of your friend particularly. No one's quite sure why, but ever since she saw a photograph of him, instead of wanting him arrested or executed, had preferred the idea of having him joined. I don't know; perhaps she knows something that we don't..."

Vegita's face curdled a bit. "Thank you for that absolutely _disgusting _image, doctor. Do you have anything to treat a Saiya-jin with _nausea_?"

.----------------------.

"May I speak of a question on my mind, my Empress?" The lone guard turned towards the shadow before the glowing tank. The room was dark from the night, but he could tell that she wasn't sleeping. The shadow shifted somewhat to the enquiry.

"Proceed."

He lowered his head in thanks and reverence to her. "I heard from outside, while those people were here with the doctor and Rabiori, you speak of giving your hand in marriage to that Namekku-sei-jin that's been running through the villages of Sutorin 5. Why? What good will it bring you to marry a man that you've never met and has no status?"

A chuckle came from her. "Are you certain that he has no status? Are you sure that I have not met him before?"

"Well..."

"I know who he is, what he is, and why he's here. I can feel it through the streams. You might not think that I will gain any more good than a husband that I find pleasing to the eyes and a fighter in my ranks, but its much more, and I have more to offer him than I've been saying. I'm leading him here as we speak. I know more about him than he knows about himself." She laughed again. "_Piccolo _will be here soon. You'll treat him well, I hope."

* * *

Chapter was a lil' extra long this time.  
I'll let you guys in on a secret: although I have quite a lot of this fic planned out, I have no idea how long I'm going to extend it or how I will make it end. That means that the feedback will probably affect the story much more than it did in the past. That just makes reviewing all the more importent, eh? 


	6. Decomposition

Disclaimer: There's some hot disclaimer action in chapter 2.

I'll be trying to pull back most of the OCs into the background. They're dominating a _bit _too much.

* * *

Though they were allowed/encouraged to stay behind in the ship, there was effectively nothing for the Earthlings to do otherwise, and curiosity to see this strong general promised at least some sort of amusement for them since the warriors had no place to train and the wives had no subject left on which they could converse. 

Walking through the landing port, they look around at the area around it, noticing it's bleak landscape that would seem almost like a desert if it weren't more rock than sand. Videl tugs Gohan aside from the rest of the group. "What did he say this planet was again? It looks..._dead_."

"He said it was used for some sort of scientific study. Hey, Arufuredo-san," he called out, "Why is this place so desolate? To be able to experiment with a controlled environment more easily and minimize any damage that could be caused by a miscalculation?"

The doctor looked back at him. "Precisely. This planet is small and on the outskirts of the Empire, which people think is strange that we do some of our most coveted studies in such a seemingly unprotected area, but it's the best place because if something can go so far as destroy the planet, it will not affect any of our other planets. It does have cities and a population of civilians, but they are kept distant from the labs."

Bulma nodded. "I see. That makes perfect sense. My father, however, likes to keep his lab in the middle of one of the biggest cities on our planet. For commercial purposes, I understand, but it gets a bit annoying that people quickly crowd around whenever something happens in the lab like an explosion and such. Plus, it bugs the Hell out of the local police."

Arufuredo nodded, as if he knew of such problems himself and was sympathizing. They stopped before a large ship (obviously owned by the Empire) and waited a while until a port on it opened and a ramp came down. A rather simple, but tough looking, land vehicle with a box-like body rolled out onto the ground. When it stopped by them, they could see the slits in the metal on either side of it's walls, exposing whatever inside to the planet's air and sunlight.

The driver opened his window and greeted Arufuredo. "Doctor, we were given word that you and your friends would be accompanying us on the way to the lab. Will you help with the research operation, as well?"

"I would be honored with such an opportunity to do such a study." He bowed and then commenced to introduce the others.

Everyone loaded into other land vehicles separately; with Arufuredo was the girls, and the men were split up with the soldiers. "Arufuredo," Videl said after they started up and proceeded on the dusty, hard roads, "Are you going to sabotage the operation?"

"No. I might want to help General Atsarute to win this war, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm a scientist. I can't possibly pass this up because of politics."

"I'm so excited; I have to see what your labs are like!" Bulma was practically bouncing around in the vehicle. "It must be much more advanced than the one you had on the ship back on Earth."

"Yes. With all of the equipment, specimens, and materials abundant, its a scientific paradise."

"Aren't you afraid that if Atsarute's armies defeat the Empire, those labs will be destroyed?" Chi-chi said.

"Not at all. The scientists that Atsarute is affiliated with are the most revered in the universe, and their labs make ours, as good as they are, look like sheds full of old beakers. Hell, the Computer Planet is under their control."

Videl raised a brow. "Computer Planet?"

"That's what it translates in your tongue. Basically, it's an entire planet consisting of, and operated by, computers. It's just about the size of your Jupiter."

The three looked dumbstruck. "...Wow."

.----------------------.

Piccolo landed several hours later and, instead of following his instincts immediately, asked for directions to the nearest down. He declined getting anything to travel the land, picked up his few belongings, and began walking.

_Why aren't you going after it?_ asked Kami-sama _You said that it was the key to fixing the problem._

He thought back, _It is, but I need to recuperate. You guys are going to sleep again soon, and that's the only time that I can unwind correctly--_

_By killing people? _Neil broke in.

Piccolo sneered and looked around at the planet's landscape. _With the lack of vegetation and other forms of life, it shouldn't be difficult to catch up with it later. It's been captured, anyway, and its captors aren't moving nearly as quickly._

"What do you do on those days, Piccolo? Steal? Maim? _Kill?_" Kami-sama interrupted his observations with his own vocal cords.

"It doesn't matter. Leave it be." He began to anger; he hated it whenever they did that against his will, whether it was on purpose or unconscious.

"It obviously does! I know that it's to keep us from succumbing entirely to the mania, but it's not worth it for the lives of others!"

Piccolo audibly screamed at them in response, but their voices followed, and a sudden, sharp pain in his right arm cut it off quickly. He looked at it a moment, and noticed a small line of his purple blood budding along the side of a red seam. "We can't argue," he said through his teeth, "There's already enough tension. Leave it; we can discuss it after we fix this."

.----------------------.

A message came through the other intercoms, and the carrier vehicle slowed to a halt. All other land vehicles did so.

"What's happening?" Vegita demanded, "Why are we wasting time by stopping here?"

The soldier at the wheel turned to him. "The specimen is getting restless. We have to stop transport until it calms down."

He snorted and got out of the vehicle. "What kind of idiots are you? _Make _it calm down if you have to. _I'll _show you how." He stormed off towards the cage, with Kuririn at his heels to tell him to stop, and looked into one of the slits on the side.

A shadow was pacing about inside furiously like a captive panther would. It sensed Vegita before he could yell at it, and stared right at him with piercing, demonic eyes. The glare made him slightly uncomfortable, so he shifted a little to the left, and its eyes followed. It didn't shift away until Kuririn stepped forward to try to convince him to go back to the vehicle, and then the glare passed back and forth between the two.

"What the Hell is that idiot up to?!" Bulma exited, followed by the rest of the people in her vehicle, and then everyone emptied out and surrounded the carrier.

It didn't pay mind to anyone else until Goku and Gohan approached. It watched and studied them perhaps even more closely than Vegita or Kuririn. The transport driver was beginning to get concerned that everyone crowding around would upset it even more, and urged them to return.

"Wait," Goku said, "It's acting a lot like a wild animal does back on Earth. Perhaps I can calm it down a bit..." He came closer and almost pressed his face into the slit so that he might appear non-threatening and said in a friendly tone, "Are you afraid of something?"

It stopped pacing and sat before Goku, completely focused on him.

He nodded. "What is your name? Are you General Atsarute that I've been hearing so much about?"

It didn't answer.

"Why are you so quiet? Are you hiding something? Can you still talk?"

It made a little growl, which made Goku fidget a little, letting some light into the chamber. It moved to avoid it.

"Why are you staying away from the sunlight? Do you fear sunlight?"

The transport man whispered to him, "The sunlight seems to aggravate it physically. Besides, you don't want to see it. It's rotted so much during death that its skin's falling off."

"So do you not like being seen in the light?" Goku said, and continued speaking thusly, doing as much as he could to seem non-threatening and wanting to help. He really did want to help it; it was so much like a wild animal in captivity that it saddened him to see it pace about the cage as it did. His one-sided conversation seemed to mesmerize it.

It sat and stared at him for a full 20 minutes before it lunged forward and slashed Goku's throat open through the slit.

* * *

How about that? I got out another chapter pretty quickly, eh? Merry Christmas, folks. Hope that you've enjoyed yourselves. And, since I neglected to do explain this earlier, here's the holiday's extra: 

**Dr. Arufuredo's Explanation of Namekku-sei-jin Females**

First of all, they look similar to your Ningen females... except like Namekku-sei-jin. Simply replace the masculine attributes of the men you saw with female equivalents, and you've gotten the basic idea... What do you mean a "female Piccolo"? Well, to continue, I have some proper pictures of anatom-- _HOLY SHIT THIS ISN'T IT!_ I _swear_ that poster's Rabiori's! Okay... here's the _real _layout...

((Cough)) Anyway, where as your female population is slightly over half your population, the female population of Namekku-sei-jin is about a-hundred to one. They only make 1 of the population. However, the Namekku-sei-jin, despite this set-back, grow in population so rapidly and with so much girth that they've easily become the largest fraction of all intelligent lifeforms in the universe. This is due to their great connection with nature due to their inherent adaptation of sorcery... that and they're biologically urged to have as many children as possible to increase the chances of getting a daughter.

I'll skip the mating process as its not unsimilar to yours, but they're born through eggs instead of live birth. Both female and males are able to carry the egg, but it is fertilized in the female womb and can not be carried by the male until after she lays it, whereas she may carry it before or after. The alternate place to carry the egg is in a thick-walled, largely hallow chamber in the upper chest cavity, just behind the shoulder. The egg is carried here by swallowing it and re-directing its path to the chamber. When in this chamber, the host parent provides nutrients and is able, depending on his or her willpower, to modify the egg. The most common and more simpler of ways is to set its time of birth, or even delay its birth until it's convenient.

Their is another draw-back. A female can carry both male and female eggs in these ways, but a male cannot carry a female egg. If he tries, the hormones and gender-specific chemicals will seep through to his bloodstream and immobilize him. Also, he is unable to provide nutrients to the egg or initiate its birth.

Now, back to female Namekku-sei-jin, you see what looks like your hair follicles on their heads? These are actually producers of those chemicals, the very same that can poison a carrier male. These chemicals are evolutionary mechanisms that allow them to manipulate the male's behavior, usually in a form of depressants. They can soothe or calm down their mate, and even knock out or paralyze an aggressive male, which is essential in their minority position. Among the other chemicals and hormones that they produce, they can, again depending on the individual's willpower, control their ovulation and estrus.

Now... any questions? ..What? I'm blushing?! I-impossible!


	7. By Any Means

Disclaimer: Chapter 2. Shut up.

I guess that it wouldn't do any harm to tell you that Jin has _technically _already been introduced in the story...

* * *

Piccolo checked into one of the more affordable inns in the town and sat down his belongings beside the low bed. The clerk/manager didn't give him so much as a wary look throughout the transaction. He still hadn't gotten used to the idea of people not running whenever they saw him (and with the reputation he got on that planet, the trend still didn't really die out). 

No matter what, a lot of things became more convenient for him. All he had to do now is wait for Neil and Kami-sama to go to sleep.

But they seemed to be holding it off. He could hear slight bits of their planning to stay awake to ensure that he didn't do anything wrong. _We don't need the sleep for biological purposes, so it's not that necessary..._ he heard one say.

_Regardless, we need it for psychological purposes, and that's more important at this moment... _Piccolo could now identify the former voice as Neil and the latter as Kami-sama._ I'm getting tired... and he's waiting for us to rest. I object along with you and maintain that our death is better than killing others to ensure that we don't die, but now it's double or nothing. The tension's getting worse, and we might perish soon._

Piccolo only heard silence until Kami-sama continued, _I'm _very _tired, and I've seen a lot of things... Let him have his night and let us have our sleep._

_It may very well be the last night to enjoy for all of us._

.----------------------.

Even though the Earthlings panicked and rummaged through the baggage for the Senzu, the doctors and soldiers remained calm and quickly began to take care of Goku. He might have been an alien to them, but they still knew the basics of what to do. They injected a chemical that would slow down the blood's running and a sheet-like substance on the gaping hole in his neck after they cleaned him and made sure that he wouldn't have any ill effects to any of the medicine.

They had an emergency operation in the middle of nowhere, and it was a complete success. They had quickly grafted more skin onto his throat and repaired all damage. They cleaned out any blood that got into the opened tubes, and everything was sewn together and in working order in less than two hours, which was how long it took the Earthlings to realize that they had capsulated the bag of Senzu and that capsule was in her pocket.

Goku sat up weakly in the vehicle seat and managed a smile when he declined the bean Gohan offered to him. "It's alright," he said with a hoarse voice, "They said that all I need is to rest and allow my body to fix everything else. It shouldn't take long. Save it for later." His smile faded a bit. "I have a feeling that we're going to need it later."

Gohan looked puzzled, but he wasn't able to ask why before his mother ran in and started screaming at her husband for being a reckless idiot. "What were you thinking?! That thing almost killed you!"

There was a nervous laugh. "I was just trying to help. It seemed really unhappy being locked in there like that..."

"_So?!_ It's dead, Goku! A dead demon, and it tried to kill you!" Then she started to bring out the tears and hid her eyes with the backs of her hands. "Don't you _dare _make me a widow again, baka!"

He looked at her sadly. "Chi-chi..."

"Don't you 'Chi-chi' me!" She dropped her hands and commenced yelling at him again. "What am I going to do if you get yourself killed? Be alone? That's _exactly _why I came here with you. I don't want to be alone while you're off fighting and getting _killed _again and again!" She wiped her eyes furiously and sat down on the seat beside him.

He looked at her curiously. "Hmm?"

She glared at him through the side of her eyes. "I'm going to be keeping an eye on you. The doctors said that you needed rest, right? Well, I'm going to make sure that you get it. You're not to fight, train, or anything like that until you're _completely _healed, got it?"

Goku smiled wryly, and Gohan sighed. _Oh well,_ he thought, _at least I get to sit with Videl now that Okaa-san will be sitting here._

They were on the move soon after. Apparently, the thing went to sleep soon after it slashed Goku's throat open, so they were fine for going back on the road as long as the drivers were careful. Pretty soon, everyone seemed to have forgotten what happened: the soldiers and scientists began to converse about things in their own language; Bulma and Arufuredo were already chatting away; Videl and Gohan were rather content with each other's company; Chi-chi babied and lectured Goku in turns; only Vegita and Kuririn seemed bored, since one obviously had nothing to say to the other.

During one of the few gaps between Arufuredo's and Bulma's discussion, she looked over to Gohan and Videl, and giggled at how the two seemed to have fallen asleep, with his arm around her. She now felt that she should tease him about it whenever they woke up. Of course, it wasn't an obligation... that would be when Trunks gets a girlfriend of his own.

It was a few hours past midday when the creature started making a racket again. At first, they were considering stopping, especially since they were coming up to a wide hill that was full of cavernous cracks, each around a meter thick, from all sides and such a bumpy ride would only agitate it more, but it calmed down quickly, and they decided it was best to just get that part of the drive over with and stop afterwards if any problems occur.

Goku was cautioned to prepare himself just before they started going up. A few minutes after the ascent started, the cracks rustled about the passengers in each vehicle, waking up and upsetting some of them. The creature became restless again, banging around the cage along with the bumps. They tried to keep their cool long enough, until it finally stopped when they came near the center of the hill. They sighed relief, but it wasn't five seconds later that it slammed hard against the left wall and toppled it over. It crashed onto its side and the men scrambled to get out of the cab. The other vehicles stopped immediately, and almost everyone poured out to see the problem.

Noises of scratching and ripping metal, accompanied by fierce growls, came from it while the whole vehicle shook with the walking fiend's attempts to escape. Gohan was about to pull it upright when they stopped. He blinked at the abruptness, reluctant that it might be trying to fool him, and motioned for someone to be close by, on guard in case it does try something.

He shoved upright, and showed a huge hole torn out from the slits in its side. Everyone stared at it, and some of the soldiers approached it cautiously and looked inside. "It's not there."

"It _escaped_?!" Arufuredo looked down where the vehicle fell.

There was a large crack, big enough for a person, right where the hole would have been while the cage was toppled over. Gohan jumped in first. Videl yelled after him and followed.

"Wait!" Kuririn shouted, then he sighed, made a comment about his luck, and jumped in as well.

.----------------------.

The queen seemed to be waiting for something, and having to wait didn't exactly put her in the most pleasant of moods. Despite this, she had already ordered and presented a proper burial for General Rabiori's "ashes" and kept up with all military business. Things have slowed down, mostly because the enemy didn't have General Atsarute to hold their hands, anymore. And now, that re-animated corpse of a dead general was being brought to her... after all the studies have been done, of course.

She slumped a bit in her throne. _It will be a joy to take General Atsarute's moisture, then make them as my own. Then, I will be able to rule an effective empire, with Atsarute's powers and military intelligence. And perhaps... just perhaps... I'll have a Namekku-sei-jin husband. _She grinned. He still doesn't know anything yet. I'll explain it to him when he gets here... it should be soon...

Her hand pulled at a ribbon around her neck, and she held it taut before her. _The streams say that he is close to me in time... but... what's this? This is a complicated situation. _A huff came from her, making the guards move around in uncertainty. _He might not live long enough to explain these things to him. And what was the unsettling feeling I had earlier? _She pulled it a different way and peered into it. _More complications. Damnit, what more will come from this?_

She sat in thought for a while, and as she pondered how these events came to be, she realized something: Rabiori couldn't have possibly thought up that plan, even though he initiated it and took the credit. _It must have been Dr. Arufuredo's doing. So far, everything he's done had been flawless. Why was it that this time, his plan failed? Did he simply underestimate General Atsarute? ...Impossible. He's much too thorough; he'll bring a Gars-6X5 to go velir hunting_(a/n)_. It could have been one of the other officers or scientists in the group but it's doubtful... _She dismissed her guards to change shifts. I'll have to observe the streams flowing towards him more often, just in case he might be losing his touch...

.----------------------.

The three, along with some soldiers, looked around all they could throughout the cracked hill. Most of the areas were dark, mainly because many of the cracks were bent in ways that light couldn't flood in. Goku was forbidden by Chi-chi to help (despite the fact that they were both concerned about their son) and Vegita refused to go, on the grounds that it wasn't his problem and that he didn't give a damn one way or the other (but he wasn't fooling Bulma that it was because he was scared of it).

Gohan and Videl would yell to each other, relaying any information, but Kuririn was too frightened to shout like they were. He stared down at the ground, practically kicking the dirt as he walked, mumbling, "I'm not finding anything anyway, so I don't have to--" He stopped and saw a pair of feet before him, and slowly looked up to see a tall figure, standing on its hind legs, almost completely draped in shadow except for a rogue beam of light on a small fraction of its lower face. It looked like a fanged skull with some living meat on it, and the blood coursing through all of it.

Kuririn's face turned pale, he shook, and-- "_...eeeeuuuuUUUU**UAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!!**_"

Gohan's face shot around, looking for the direction where the scream came from. "Kuririn-san!"

Before Kuririn even knew it, he was running as fast as he could from the creature. Since he was smaller, he could dodge through the cracks and twists easily, but it was faster, and it always seemed to be growling at his heels, ready to rip off his feet from his ankles. He tried going into increasingly smaller and more difficult areas, but if it couldn't squeeze its way through, it was easily able to destroy any obstacle with brute force. He tried higher and lower grounds, and he strained to think of a way to keep from getting torn into ribbons while he sprinted through the passageways.

He glanced back at it, and saw it was running against the darker side of the passage. _I've got an idea..._

Gohan jumped out and on top of the hill, trying to figure out where his friend was. "Kuririn-san! Where are you?!"

Instead of trying to get higher or into more complex caverns, he ran until he found a passage that had a light at the end. He now managed to run even faster (which is pretty damn fast for a Human) and jumped through the entrance and twisted his body back towards caverns. The walking fiend was just coming out as well.

"**_Tayo-ken!_**" He raised his hands to his face and created a furious flash of light.

The aura of brightness alerted the others of where he was, and everyone ran towards it.

It made an ungodly screech and retreated back into the hill, still roaring and shouting.

* * *

(a/n)An equivalent that Humans would understand is "he'll bring an AK-47 to go rabbit hunting", which _has _to be a hyperbole. If he was _that _cautious, he would never have gone into the Queen's chamber.  
Lots of thinking this chapter. BTW, "Tayo-ken" is the Japanese name for "Solar Flare" (unless it's spelled "Taiyo-ken". Oh, I _hate _that crazy Romanji ;-) ). And in an unrelated (and confusing to the populace) note... ((pouts)) I miss Hedgerow Hall!!! ;-;...TT...((mourn)) 


	8. Ripping and Tearing

Disclaimer: I saw one in chapter two once. Weird, huh?

Does this story seriously only have 2 readers, or do I only get to see 2 reviewing? #somewhat confused# Hmm... oh well. I guess I'm just spoiled from GVD and MOTS.

* * *

They searched every corner of the hill for the reanimated corpse, but they weren't aware of the trail of blood that it was leaving until twilight came. The blood lead from the cave into the empty fields, and it didn't look like Human blood, so they assumed that it was wounded.

"Kuririn," Gohan turned to him, "Did you manage to wound him?"

"No. Besides the Tayo-ken, all I did was run like crazy from it. It might have gotten hurt by the rocks while running through, but I doubt it." He thought for a second. "When I saw its face, I could see its blood running. Maybe the blood's just coming from where it's getting holes from decomposition...?"

Gohan lowered his head. "That's... possible, I guess. Do you suppose that the Tayo-ken did damage? The scream that it made was... terrible."

Arufuredo nodded. "You said that you could see the blood running... so that might mean that the blood vessels were still intact and working..."

"Do you think that the flash that Kuririn made broke the blood vessels behind its eyes?" Bulma broke in.

"I believe that's the most logical answer. If that's the case, then it's going to be blind for a while. If it were still acting like a wild animal, it will probably only go into hiding and tend to its wounds. However..."

"What? You don't think that its acting like an animal anymore?" Videl looked a little surprised by how he phrased it.

"I know what he's talking about," Gohan nodded, "It seemed like it started planning ahead." He turned to the guys that were driving the cage. "Did it do that before?"

One of them shook his head. "When it was still free, it just killed whatever it came to, but just before we captured it, it started killing more selectively."

"We'll have to track after it immediately," Arufuredo ordered and hopped into his vehicle. "Being blind might slow it down, but we can't go at it by leisure if it's starting to gain cognitive advancement. Remember: walking fiend or not, this is General Atsarute that we're dealing with!"

.----------------------.

Piccolo spent most of his day up to this point alone smoking and drinking. He had been in the same bar for the past 5 hours at least, just sitting in the corner booth while guzzling the alien booze and smoking some sort of concoction wrapped in a paper. On other planets, it wouldn't have been too long to be hanging around in a place like this before someone challenged him to a fight, out of drunkenness or any other menagerie of reasons. But this planet was rather docile in comparison due to its low population density and no one had given him a reason to kill them, so he had to go out of his way to do so after he finished his drink.

Several men, all wearing similar garb with a large black mantle on their shoulders, came in together. They went up to a man at the bar with the same mantle. "Hey, boss!"

He turned around and looked at them. "Anything I should be informed about?"

One shook his head. "No, we just wanted to greet you." They began to fill up the other stools before the bar. "Boss" ordered them a round.

After a while of talking, they started on how they were getting restless to do something.

"Can't really help it," Boss lowered his head with a serious face. "This town isn't exactly very exciting. We came here to rule the town as the Black Capes and avoid gang warfare... and that we certainly did! Just... too quickly..."

"Hey," a gang member snickered, "They've got a new Sureibu statue in the graveyard.

A few of the others laughed and responded positively to that comment, but some, including Boss, rolled their eyes.

"What's with you and those naked lady statues? They always get taken down by the end of the week anyway," Boss said and had another gulp of his drink, "I'm surprised that people keep trying to get them in."

"C'mon! Don't you find it interesting that the town keeps taking them down?"

"Not really. Small towns like this tend to be bitchy like that."

"But this time, _we _could take it tonight before they decide to destroy it. It'd be a shame if they got this one, too. It's one of Sureibu's finest works that I've seen. You'll think so too once you see it."

"It's just a statue!"

"It's still more interesting than what we've been doing, right?"

Boss glared at him for a while. "Fine." He threw the money for the drinks on the counter. "We'll go and take the statue. Some of you guys can be real perverts, though..."

They laughed as they left. "Hey! It's not _our _fault that all the women in this town are married..."

_The graveyard, eh? _Piccolo thought, How fitting. _I'll kill them there... after a few more minutes. _He took another puff from the roll and another sip from the glass. _This alien stuff is so much better than anything that I've ever had on Earth._

When he had just finished the roll, his keen ears picked up the sounds our people screaming. He stood up and searched the ki around him. He couldn't find anything... except that he couldn't sense the gang that was in here a few minutes ago. He quickly ran to the cemetery... before he even knew where the cemetery was, and saw their bodies on the ground. _They seem to have all had their necks snapped... quick, clean deaths._ Upon further examination, he noticed that their mantles were missing, and the boss was no where to be seen. _Could it be that another gang came, then killed them and took the leader? _He scratched his head. _I guess that makes sense... some city gangs on Earth did stuff like that. More likely, it was a gang that they had problems with in the past..._ This theory was shot down when he saw Boss' body, slumped in the shadow of a gravestone with his throat torn apart. He ran up and looked at the tears in the flesh closely. _This was done by hand. It must have escaped, and it's here somewhere. That must be why I got here without having to ask where it was... _He searched through his surroundings for a moment, then back at Boss. _His mantle is gone as well. Did it kill all of these men, or just him? If it killed all of them, then it probably took their cloaks as well-- but _why

He heard the faint sound of ripping cloth. It was very faint, and he wasn't aware of it for quite some time. He searched for where it must be coming from, but the volume didn't seem to get any louder no matter where he looked. Then, his feet took him somewhere where his body could pass. The only thing that seemed to block him was air, but when he tried to move forward, it didn't happen. _Strange... I don't feel or see a wall..._ He pushed his hand forward, and it stopped at a certain point as well. He pushed harder, and it gave way. A few seconds later, he heard a soft thump, and the dust on the ground before him stirred up a bit.

.----------------------.

Arufuredo was able to discern the fiend's ki even though it was trying to suppress it. "It might remember how," he said, "but it still can't build enough concentration to do it flawlessly. We might catch it again in no time."

"Where do you think he's heading?" Gohan asked.

"Huh? Who?"

"General Atsarute."

"Oh, pardon. It seems to be going towards Daaru town. I'm not sure why... perhaps the energy that the population creates is drawing it there."

Bulma pulled the her hair, fluttering in the wind, out if her face. "Don't you think that we're going a little too fast for Goku?"

His eyes widened and he decelerated. "I didn't realize that I was going so fast..."

"You sped up gradually," Bulma said, "You must really be getting anxious about losing Atsarute like that."

"No... no, I just got to thinking about some of the complications and events leading up to this." He sighed. "I barely noticed how much time has passed since we started out. It managed to travel very far very fast. We might not catch up to it until late morning."

.----------------------.

Piccolo had been standing there a while before he realized that it was gone. He lowered his hand and searched around. Having no luck, he jump up atop a tall pillar and used the point for a wider range. Nothing out of place was in sight, but the horizon was slowly getting lighter. _Damn! It's almost morning! Those two will be waking up soon..._ He growled at his misfortune. He didn't get to kill anyone, and he had all of this pent up tension that he still had to get rid of.

They were becoming conscious, and he could feel himself peel back from them, already straining to escape from them. _I'll have to go back to the inn and try to sleep it off. _A pain shot through his arm again. _If I can make it, that is..._

He turned to jump away back into town, but Neil screamed for him to wait.

_What are those?_ he asked, pulling their body back to look at the bodies of the former Black Cloak Gang, _Victims?_

Piccolo growled. "Would you believe that they were that way when I got here?"

"Bastard!" Neil used Piccolo's own vocal cords again. "I don't give a damn if we're dying! Do you think these people's lives are really worth--"

"Just fucking shut up! I didn't do it this time!.. _Aackk!_" Another surge came through, and blood broke from the seam again. He began to wander where Kami-sama's voice was since it was delaying in breaking up the fight, but he soon found Kami-sama's thoughts; they were corrupted and garbled by the mania, holding no coherent string. "Damnit! Figures that the senile old man would go first!"

"I've stayed quiet all these years to make way for your personality so that you wouldn't force me out, but now that Kami-sama sort of sealed the deal here, I came to realize that I couldn't possibly spend a lifetime in the same mind with a demon like you!" Neil hissed in spite.

Kami-sama shouted, but it wasn't a phrase; only some sort of expression of anger, pain, and turmoil.

Piccolo couldn't stand it anymore, and he knew that they couldn't, either, but he had to keep hold of himself. He managed to take a mental foothold and latch onto it, trying his best to not be torn away from himself. He knew that Neil understood what was happening, but obviously didn't care. _I'm the only one at work here... I knew that merging with that old man would be the death of me... Just keep focused; I can't lose my concentration..._

Some cars were coming in from the distance, but he tried to ignore them, but as they got closer, he could feel the ki coming from them. "W-what are they doing--" That distraction was all that it took for him to lose his grasp. He struggled to get it back, but it was no use. The red seams all along his body were tearing apart, and now it was all he could do to keep from screaming.

"It couldn't be..." Gohan said when he saw the figure on top of the tall column in the graveyard.

"Piccolo!" Kuririn got up in the car and screamed.

The vehicles stopped and everyone emptied. The Earthling rushed to gather around the column, yelling to their friend. The ground was rumbling all around it, like great powers were at conflict. They kept focused up as the dark clouds that seem to have been summoned by these forces blotted out the rising sun.

When Bulma reached the pillar herself, she shrieked and thrust a trembling finger towards the column. "There's _blood _coming down it...!" Running down the pillar were thick streams of dark, purplish blood, channeling through the carved fluting towards the base.

Before any action could be taken to help him, a bright light seemed to shoot out from the clouds, hitting Piccolo and knocking him off the pillar, trails of his blood following him. He fell several meters away, and the blood splattered and pooled around him. There was a slight hesitation before everyone ran to him and gathered in a tight circle, shouting for him to show a sign...

"Oi! Piccolo!"

"Piccolo-san!"

"C'mon, wake up!"

"Just say something! Anything!"

...But there was no response.

* * *

Well... My ass could be getting **_flamed_** by this... XD 


	9. Devil Made Me Do It

Disclaimer: Chapter 2.

Well, I was right. #lol# I couldn't resist!  
Getting interesting reactions is fun! I think that I should have ended a chapter back in GVD with Hina-chan saying that Jin was her mother.  
And, just in case no one noticed, I changed the rating to R. Extra info, I updated the OC page and fixed the picture links. No new pictures, though; unfortunately, I haven't had much time to draw.

* * *

Queen Komugiko looked absolutely dumbfounded. "...What just happened?" Something that she didn't expect, or didn't sense, or didn't think as possible, just happened, and she could sense it through the streams. Her guards looked at her quizzically while she lowered her head in confusion. _Did he just die again... or... what?_

.----------------------.

While everyone screamed for Piccolo to do something, Arufuredo came closer and started to examine what happened. _Those red lines look to be cut all around his body and the blood is coming from... wait a minute... _He noticed that they slowly healed back together before his eyes. He pulled out a small, screwdriver-like tool from his pocket and lightly pushed at the red seams to examine more closely.

Piccolo's eyes shot open and he sat up, wide-eyed but otherwise expressionless. His friends gasped at the abruptness, then sighed in relief to see that he was okay.

"Piccolo, you had us going for a while there," Kuririn said, laughing, "Scaring people like that isn't nice you know."

"I'm glad that you're all right, Piccolo-san."

He wasn't listening, only looking ahead of him, then down at his hands in a serious manner. A mischeivous smirk went across his face, and he stood straight, shoved Gohan and the others out of his way, and walked towards the vehicle with Goku and Chi-chi in it.

Although he was confined by his wife to his seat, his posture still straightened and he yelled a greeting to Piccolo excitedly. But instead of going around the vehicle to Chi-chi's or Goku's side, Piccolo stepped on top of the vehicle and kept walking until he was looking down at them in the topless machine, still grinning. Goku's smile faded. Something's... not right...

"What's wrong, Son Goku?" he said, but his voice sounded much older and more hoarse than it did before, "You were so happy earlier. Did I... do something to dampen the mood?" His lips stretched from a grin to a malicious smile, his fangs now clearly and menacingly in view.

Goku started to sweat. "You're not Piccolo..."

"Oh? Is that so?" The Namek laughed. "Sorry to call you incorrect, but I _am _Piccolo--" He playfully made a beam of energy from his fingers and swiped down at Goku with it, slashing a mark into his face, then allowing the energy to dissipate in the air, "--I'm just the Senior version."

Goku immediately pushed Chi-chi out of the car and followed after her, avoiding another one of the attacks, which this time had Piccolo's fist far past the seats of the car.

"Otou-san! What's going on?" Gohan shouted.

"Everybody! Be on guard!" Goku edged sideways into defense. "I don't know how... but _Piccolo Daimaou_ has revived as his old self..."

"Daimaou?"

Kuririn turned so pale that his forehead looked blue. "...But that's impossible! You killed him yourself, Goku! Over 20 years ago!"

Gohan turned to Kuririn. "Who is 'Daimaou'?"

He looked back with a puzzled face. "Didn't anyone tell you? He rampaged Earth before you were born. He's Piccolo's father!"

The teenager blinked. He did hear about Piccolo Daimaou, but no one told him anything about him being his trainer's father; the trainer himself didn't touch on it._ I thought that Piccolo Daimaou and Piccolo-san were the same person..._

Piccolo Daimaou sat down on the vehicle and laughed again, facing the confused/frightened Earthlings. "It was 22 years ago that you killed me, and to be honest, I'm rather bitter about it." He merely waved his hand and knocked everyone in the proximity off their feet. "My son's knocked out cold right now. So is Kami-sama and that disturbing clone Neil. _I've_ got complete control of this body, and, with my son's training and my own recent addition to the power, I can set out to kill all of you, in alphabetical order if I wish." He blasted a quick beam at Goku that sent him crashing into a tombstone.

Gohan ran to protect his father. "Otou-san is still recovering from wounds! Attacking him like this is underhanded!"

The man chuckled again. "Do you think that I care about that? I'll do whatever I please. Now, out of my way, child." He smacked Gohan aside, who was caught before hitting the ground by Videl and Kuririn. "Just because he made it easier on me doesn't mean I'm not going to kill him anyway. I'm not soft like you Humans are."

Goku got up and into stance. Piccolo merely walked up to him, grinned again, and was suddenly kicking the back of his head from in the air. Then, he moved to kick his jaw, launching Goku high into the air. Piccolo followed and knocked him back down. The Saiya-jin recovered from the blow just in time to land on his feet. He stared at his friend seriously before coming to a decision, then, going into a stance again and cupping his hands in a familar manner, began: "**_Ka...me..._**"

"Do you really think that such a weak move will effect me?" Piccolo said in an audacious tone.

"**_Ha..me..._**"

Kuririn maintained an expression of shock on his face. "Is Goku... really intent on killing him?"

Videl turned to him with a puzzled look. "That's the idea, isn't it?"

"Even if Piccolo Daimaou has control of that body, Piccolo is still in there! Just unconscious."

"**_HA!_**" He hurled a bluish column of light towards Piccolo. He had a plan to subdue him that he would initiate when Piccolo dodged.

Daimaou slapped the beam away instead, but after he did, he cursed in pain and grabbed his arm. Fresh blood was running down it again. "What the Hell..." he hissed, "They didn't fully heal yet..."

Arufuredo managed to hear these words and screamed to Goku, "Aim for those red lines!"

Goku made a confused look, then went into stance again, not long before he was hit in the gut by Piccolo's fist, then punched backwards.

"Son of a bitch!" he growled, "Do you think that I'm going to give a stupid monkey like you the chance?" He was about to inflict more damage but his head suddenly shot to the side, as if he sensed something. Damn... my son is completely incapable of sensing it, so I should go subdue it while I still have the chance...but... He looked back over to Goku. This might be my only chance to kill Son Goku as well! There's only one thing to do... Daimaou brought his fists back and electric energy started to bounce off both of them. He put them over his head. "**_Masenko!" _**He forced forth a beam of his own towards Goku, one that was perhaps unnecessarily immense, but he had to make sure that he died if he were to leave for another reason.

Gohan tried to run forward to get his father out of the way, but Videl and Kuririn kept hold of him arms and would not let him go. Goku was now wounded and couldn't possibly block or dodge the immense attack. Then he was aware that someone was tugging him away...

.----------------------.

Piccolo left immediately from the battle towards the power. _It's hiding; I can tell. I can hear it from this distance. It's sniffing... looking for something._

He came before a conglomeration of rocks, where that creature was searching the ground, its nose practically in the dirt. It tried to stay in the shadows, but every once in a while, its arm or its leg would shift into the sunlight, showing off its horrid transformation. It kept low, trying to make certain of where it was going through all of the senses it could muster up.

_Is it blind?_ Daimaou thought when he landed before it. It didn't seem to sense him at all until he spoke, "Hey," then it jumped back in surprise, searching for what made the noise, sniffing the air and grasping around, but even when it touched him, it didn't seem to notice. It gave up pretty soon and continued on its original search.

"What are you looking for?"

It stopped again, but decided to answer by waving its fingers. "Ssshhhh...."

"A stream?"

It nodded.

"Any particular stream?"

It made a gesture with its arm similar to an arch.

"I see. You mean that stream that runs through some old ruins on this planet."

It nodded again.

"Face my voice and keep going in my direction until you get there." He growled in his misfortune. "Fix yourself up quickly; you're in no condition for my needs right now."

It growled back, then went forward as it was told.

.----------------------.

Chi-chi had pulled her husband out of point-blank just enough to avoid elimination. However, the cost was having her severely wounded as well. Both of them were burned and torn, bleeding internally along with everything else.

Bulma took out a capsule and decompressed the one containing the bag of Senzu. "Can they swallow in their state?"

Arufuredo was already examining them and keeping their status stable. "They're both unconscious, but their throats and digestive tracts seem to be fine. If they don't swallow it automatically, I can induce it."

"All right. Give each of them one of these." She handed him two of the Senzu.

He looked at them with a raised brow. "What are these? Pills? Legumes?"

"Just do it, Aru-chan."

He now gave her a somewhat pissed off look along with the uncertainty, but he did as he was told and gave the couple each a little green bean. They swallowed, and each awoke, a little daze but in good health, simultaneously.

Goku looked over at his wife with his usual innocent face. "Chi-chi...? What happened?"

"I don't know," she said, "How do you feel?"

He looked down at his body and at his torn and dirtied clothes. "Fine... but I don't look it."

Arufuredo looked as if he was about to have an aneurysm. "Wha- how-- it-- not from..."

Chi-chi rubbed her head. "The last I remember, I was pulling you out of Piccolo's attack..."

Goku exclaimed in surprise. "Why did you do a dangerous thing like that?! You could have died!"

"And you could have, too!" She poked him accusingly in the chest. "I'm _not _about to let you get yourself killed while I'm around!"

The doctor turned away from the scene to Bulma. "WHAT THE _HELL _WAS THAT DRUG I JUST GAVE THEM?!"

She giggled. "Senzu. An extremely rare heal-all from our home planet."

"H-heal all...?"

"Yep. Can heal anything except diseases and disorders. We'll often carry a bag full with us when going off to places where there could be battles."

Arufuredo, flabbergasted, plopped down on the ground. "Amazing."

* * *

Okay, Piccolo isn't dead. Just sleeping while Daddy is blasting holes in the planet. Weeee.... 


	10. Clean Up

Disclaimer: Chaputaa Tu... Err.. Chapter 2.

I'm back in college. You know what that means: a slow down in chapter production!

* * *

The group continued forward, this time after Piccolo instead of General Atsarute's corpse. The vehicles were just beginning to complain about the troubles they had to go through, especially the one with a new hole in it. Gohan had once again traded seats, this time with Vegita, so that he might ask Kuririn about Piccolo Daimaou. Now that Vegita was near his wife, he thought that he might be able to at least talk to her while time passed, but she was too busy explaining the Senzu to Arufuredo. 

Vegita turned to the uncomfortable Human girl named Videl. "Wait till you get married to Kakarotto's son. I bet you'll have to hear dribble like that this as often as I do."

The girl flushed red. "What gave you that idea?!"

"About the dribble?"

"No! About me and Gohan marrying."

"You're mates now, right? That's what Humans do when they choose a mate, isn't it?"

"Err…"

As for Chi-Chi and Goku… 

"Just don't do anything that dangerous again," Goku made an uncertain face while he tried to lecture his wife (instead of the other way around), "If Bulma hadn't been there with Senzu beans, you might have died!"

"The same goes for you," she said, "You've died _twice_ already. I've died _once_. It just seems fair that the next one is mine as well, doesn't it?"

Goku's face turned into something between a pout and a scowl. "You really shouldn't be talking of it that way, Chi-chi…"

"I'll talk however I please about any subject. You just keep to your job and stay alive."

"But what if something happens?"

"Like what?"

"Chi-chi…"

All conversations continued thus.

.----------------------.

Daimaou was more than upset at this outcome. He could sense Son Goku coming, along with the others, with a power even better off than before. Although he could still easily be beaten, he had no idea when one of the other inhabitants of the body would wake up and kick him out of the control chair, and it might take more than a couple of seconds to make sure that he finally squished that cockroach of a man.

To top it off, the very reason that he pulled away from making sure that he was dead then and there wasn't in any state for use. He had to wait till it fixed up, which was another time factor that was left to the winds. _All this work, and I still might fail…_

He could already see the vehicles in the distance and decided to take the first maneuver while he still can.

All of the vehicles flipped over in an instant, their passengers each tossed at a good momentum away from them. Those who couldn't land without getting hurt were assisted by one of the warriors nearby. Goku twisted up and jumped to the side just in time to dodge a thin beam cast by Piccolo, then put up his arms in a block to absorb Piccolo's incoming fist. The punch made contact and the force still pushed Goku back at least 20 meters before he could regain his composure. Others tried to assist him, but were all thrust out of the way by a sudden expansion of energy.

"Damn," Vegita growled, "Happened so fucking fast that I hardly knew what was going on." He stood from getting knocked to the ground for the third time. "This Namekku-sei-jin is getting on my nerves." _As soon as he starts attacking Kakarotto again, I'm going to use the distraction to come up behind his back._ He got into stance. I recall that doctor saying something about aiming for the red lines… He'd better be right…

Piccolo came in for a head on attack, but suddenly disappeared in the air. _A diversion! Damn! _Goku thought, and looked around him, trying to sense him. Daimaou came in from the side and shouldered him hard.

Vegita made his move and sent a slash of energy, hitting the pinkish patches, and more importantly, the red lines, on Piccolo's right arm. The Namek yelled in response and turned to the perpetrator.

"You want to play too, eh?" The old man growled, then made a backhand in the air, sending four of his own slashes towards Vegita. The prince tried to dodge, but was still hit in the leg, and he ended up falling to the ground.

Goku had already gotten up and used this chance to take hold of Piccolo's right arm with as strong of a crushing grip as he could muster. Pain shot through Piccolo immediately, sending him on his knee, growling and hissing.

"Alright, Piccolo! Give up!" The Saiya-jin man shouted.

Piccolo kicked Goku's leg out from under him, then elbowed him in the stomach and sent the heel of his hand up into Goku's jaw. He gave this combo retaliation one last kick in the ribs, and Goku once again flew back, this time unable to stop himself, and ended up at quite a distance with a huge grove in his wake on the ground and his shoulders digging into the soil. Piccolo walked after him at his leisure, knowing that no one could approach him to attack now, and he could easily sense and deflect any sort of energy attack large enough that the Earthlings might find effective. His right arm still writhing in pain, he lifts up his left hand high and sends a surge through the muscles of his fingers. "I'll rip that heart out once and for all."

Then there was a brief hissing sound in the air, and a sharp pain originating right at the joint of his left shoulder, where a red seam was. He looked to see a small metallic object, something that looked like a screwdriver used for delicate work. Then a similar pain came into his abdomen, and again. There were now two of these screwdriver tools in his stomach, each, even though covered by cloth, definitely on a red seam.

Even throughout this pain, a coherent thought went through Piccolo's mind, one that was not his own. The voice sounded similar to his in the way that it was old, but it seemed opposite at the same time. A great wave of tension went through his body, and the metal tools stuck in him set off a small amount of the electricity, sparks as evidence of the terrible energy being created in him.

"_Kami_," he hissed before falling unconscious to the ground.

.----------------------.

Arufuredo spends so much of his time staying out of the other soldiers' way and being a scientist that everyone often forgets that he is a fighter as well. His knowledge of Namekku-sei-jin anatomy and his impeccable aim and ability to handle any tool as a weapon helped save Son Goku's life.

However, even as the other scientists worked on the full Saiya-jin males' wounds (to save other Senzu for more dire occasions), Arufuredo resolved to try figuring out what exactly had happened to this Namekku-sei-jin. He examined closely and spoke of every finding out loud to be recorded by an archival device.

Everyone else fidgeted in the main area of the lab. Even though the damaged vehicles managed to get there without problems, everyone was still unsettled by the events. Piccolo was carried back inside Atsarute's cage (temporarily welded to function again) in case he woke up with Daimaou still in control. Even now, they knew that he was strapped down on an examination table, and despite the grief that he had caused them to this point, they still worried. Arufuredo had been examining him behind a locked door for at least 14 hours.

Chi-chi drug out the suitcase she had brought from Earth from the vehicle and brought it into the main area. Some of the others seemed surprised that she brought it here, and that she was allowed to bring it. Goku still looked at it curiously, wondering why his wife would be dragging around an old piece of luggage like that, especially since it wasn't even hers.

"Like I said earlier," Vegita scowled, "there's nothing important about that stupid Human holding device. Why the Hell did you're wife bother to bring such a useless thing, Kakarotto?"

Goku shrugged. "Chi-chi won't even let me see it. She says that it's someone else's."

He gave a scoff. "Who's could it be if it doesn't belong to any of us? That Namek?" He laughed some more. "What would he keep in one of those things? Water bottles?"

Both Chi-chi and Bulma glared at Vegita, which stopped his mocking quickly.

"Don't you have any manners, Vegita?" His wife waved a finger at him. "There's something wrong with Piccolo and all you can do is make jokes about him!"

He turned his head in a haughty manner. "Like he wouldn't do the same."

"Vegita!"

There was some commotion at one of the communication terminals that rose during this argument. One of the soldiers ran hurriedly from it to the door of Arufuredo's private lab and knocked. "Dr. Arufuredo! You're summoned to the terminal!"

A frustrated voice came from behind the metal door. "I told you that I'm not taking any communications unless they are of utmost importance while I'm working."

"This _is_ very important, sir. The queen is on the COM line. She wishes to hear your report personally."

"What?" He audibly dropped anything that he was doing and almost ran to the door. It slid open, showing a tired and stressed man. "The queen? Why on the COM line? Is that channel safe for direct transmittion?"

"It's a newly compiled stream. The Puroeriun have yet to decode it."

Arufuredo didn't need to be told twice. He went to the terminal, everybody moving out of his way and into attention, then nodded to them and put on as professional an air as he could muster in his fatigue. "Good tidings, my Empress. What is it you wish of me?"

The static distorted image of the decrepit-looking woman jerked around, only yielding accuracy to her vividly piercing eyes. "Report your transaction of the specimen firstly."

"The walking fiend, supposed to be General Atsarute, managed to escape from the land vehicle during the transaction. Although it is no longer in our hands, we know the exact direction in relation from our current point and a general idea of distance. We will subdue it as soon as everything is in order."

"I see… _that's_ what happened…" She said to no one in particular before turning back to him. "What do you mean by 'everything'?"

"Well, while pursuing the walking fiend earlier, we came across the Namekku-sei-jin that you had ordered to be found. He is injured and may have serious problems, which I am researching at this moment."

"What is your analysis thus far?"

"I believe it's a major Namekkian psychological disorder. Sometimes, due to their unique alignment with sorcery and nature, their psychological disorders can be more hazardous than anything we may have."

"Fatal?"

"Theoretically."

"Chances of survival. Speaking theoretically, of course."

"I really don't have enough information to give a good judgment, but, supposing I find the exact disorder in the database, 41. If not, he has to rely on himself, reducing the chances to about 23, at the most."

She nodded gravely. "Is he able to walk and interact normally?"

"We've seen evidence of it, so it's very possible that he can act as normal when he regains consciousness."

"Good, because I'm on my way there right now, and I wish to see him personally."

"E-excuse me, my Empress?"

.----------------------.

It drug the torn, black rags through the streams, making sure that all of the dust and blood was washed off before hanging them upon an arc. There were always few people willing around this abandoned place, built by this planet's first populous, and even less were likely to see this thing walking around tonight. It took one thin strip in particular and jumped up to a secluded stone catwalk and walked to a small fountain in the side of another arch. The fountain was a creature's head exhaling a bend of cold water into a small pool.

The thoughts in its head had become more coherent quickly, especially after seeing those unusual aliens with peach skin earlier. There were more words in its thoughts now, but it still couldn't possibly speak them. It knew what to do, though and knew how to fix itself up. It brought the strip up to the stream of water from the mouth, letting it run over it, then dipped the strip into the pool. It took the strip up and tied it around its wounded eyes. It returned to the other strips and started wrapping the still damp scraps all around its body. Lastly, it took the only black mantle that it didn't tear, the largest of the bunch that was taken from the gang leader, and then put it upon its shoulders.

It sniffed around the air, trying to get an idea of where to go next. It managed to sense the ki of those unusual aliens from before; the next course of action was obvious.

* * *

Extra long today, so I believe that it's very well worth the wait, eh? Really, it's late because my computer refused to connect to the Internet when I returned to college. I don't know when the next chapter will be written, so patience! 


	11. Relatively Normal Between Attacks

Disclaimer: Chapter two.

Lazy me. Weee. My cat is _much_ more important than fanfiction and schoolwork **_combined!_** Mwhahaahhahaahhahahaahaha!

* * *

Arufuredo looked even more tired after the discussion with his queen. They were to wait there until she arrives. When he asked her about pursuing Atsarute, she said that as long as the corpse was on this planet, it would be easy to subdue, and it was doubtful that it could do something as complex as hijack a ship and navigate it to Puroeriun territory. 

He walked with a slightly trembling step back to his private lab, only for it to open before he reached it and have the Namekku-sei-jin that it contained walk out with his normal semblance.

"Piccolo-san!" Gohan stood from where he had been playing a card game with Videl. "Are you alright?"

Before he could answer, the doctor nearly blew up on the green man. "How did you get out of your straps?! I had you restricted for your own good as well as the others and—"

Piccolo rolled his eyes and pushed him out of the way. "Why are you guys here, anyway? This is an entirely different universe with more dangers than ours ever had."

"We came after _you_!" Chi-chi said, "We wouldn't have known that you went here unless these guys landed on Earth and told us that they were going to assimilate you into their army, and _kill_ you if you refused. So, perhaps you should tell us why _you're_ here."

"Wait! Medical questions first!" Arufuredo hissed, "Why are you even up?! You're ill and not even supposed to be conscious."

The Namekku-sei-jin crossed his arms and glared at the doctor. "Ever try to sleep with two old men bickering in your head? Your constant shining lights in my eyes and poking at the seams while I was on that table was the only thing that distracted me from their arguing."

"I'm… afraid that I don't understand. Do you know what's happening to you?"

"_Hantoparu Ganab Siolofajih_… 'The Mania of Tearing Seams'."

"…Is that a Namekku-sei-jin mental disorder? It sounds like it…"

"Something like that…" He turned to the Earthlings. "I came to this universe in search of the cure. I don't know where or what it is, but I always know which direction to go to find it." He looked towards one direction. "It's over there, now. I don't know how far, though. I'm completely unable to sense it in any way."

"So… you're drawn to it by compulsion, even though you're not sure how."

"That's about it."

Arufuredo turned in that direction as well. "From that way, I can sense the walking fiend… It's faint, but distinct."

Piccolo didn't seem to be paying attention anymore. He scowled as eyes were looking up into his brow, as if he was trying to glare at Kami-sama and Piccolo Daimaou. "Damn old men… At least Neil finally shut up, but I guess it's too much to ask father and Kami-sama to hold off long enough to let me clear my head…"

"What do you mean, Piccolo-san?"

.----------------------.

"The queen has arrived!" One soldier went through the lab in a fast stride, shouting out to everyone. The trip to the planet was successful (which means nothing if your cargo is merely a legion of warriors, but it's _completely_ different when the passenger list includes the Empress) and the landing was without flaw. Komugiko-joou immediately summoned Dr. Arufuredo, the Humans and Saiya-jin, and the Namekku-sei-jin.

As they walked down the rather empty halls of the royal ship towards the chamber room, Piccolo lagged behind, lost in his own thoughts. Something urged him to look behind him, as if someone was following. He saw a blank space that stared back at him within his shadow.

The chamber room was not at all different from the throne room. The large tank once again took up the whole back of the room. Arufuredo took the front and everyone filled out behind him. Piccolo himself went outside of the tank's glow, studying this queen. Arufuredo explained to him everything about Komugiko's transfiguration and her orders to obtain him (and her manners towards how she speaks of him) and it didn't sit well with Piccolo and felt suspicious of her motives. This woman has never heard of him before, and she's showing such an interest in him. Getting arrested for the trouble he's caused made more sense, perhaps even scouted out for an army because of his strength and skill, but…

Komugiko searched through the group and looked straight at Piccolo before turning to Arufuredo and summoning him forward. "The Namekku-sei-jin is conscious?"

"Yes, my Empress." He bowed slightly. "He explained to me the cause and complications as soon as he came to his senses. He can normally maintain stable behavior and can have coherent thoughts. However, it is fatal and he refuses to disclose the cure, even though he claims that he is 'chasing it', as he says."

She smiled. "'Chasing', is it? Very well, however he should know that the thing he's chasing is a dangerous entity that will surely kill him does he not?"

"He did not discuss that, my Empress. I don't believe that he wishes to speak of it."

"Why not? After all, it's the same thing that _I'm_ after and the same thing that _you're_ after."

"…What do you mean?"

"Obviously he's been chasing Atsarute's corpse here. Could there be another reason for his position to continually relate with the corpse's?"

"He indicated that he might have been, but how did you come to this discovery…I-if you don't mind, my Empress?"

"I've been reading both of their positions. They're very important to me, you know. Atsarute must become part of my tank, and this man—" She halted speaking suddenly. "Doctor. Please come forward."

Arufuredo audibly swallowed and stepped hesitantly towards her. She kept beckoning for him to come closer until he was less than a meter away from him, and then began to speak softly to him alone.

Piccolo tried to hear it, but the hum of the machine that this creature that called herself a queen was hooked up to managed to mingle enough with the words that it was nearly impossible to discern their voices from the mechanical burr and churning bubbles. The only phrase (incomplete may it be) that he could identify from the queen was, "Do you have… Katatsu's lineage?" In response to this, Arufuredo pulled out a small computer. After a while of more mutterings, now oddly coming only from the queen, he heard her say, "And speak nothing of it to him."

She waved him back, however the doctor's eyes were still glued upon the computer, and it took a few seconds before he realized that he was dismissed. As he returned to the group, he stopped suddenly when a slight blip came from his computer. He held it up before him and spoke into it. "This had better be important, Lieutenant."

"I'm sorry, doctor," said a voice from the device said, "but we just found a hole ripped in the eastern wall. Security has been breeched."

"What?" Arufuredo hesitated, uncertain of what to do next.

Komugiko immediately scanned the front walls, her eyes falling straight on Piccolo, staring as if in a kind of alarm. The time of that piercing yellow's glaring was halted abruptly when the queen shot up and those tentacle-like tubes shot out from the throne towards him. He dodged, and so did something else, leaping from the shadows beside him and revealing its form, now dressed in black wraps, into the center of the room. It hunched over and extended its hands and fingers like claws, faced directly towards Komugiko.

"Capture it at once!" Komugiko shouted, "That's without a doubt Atsarute!"

The guards, who had until then been still, advanced, intending to stun the creature with seizure weapons. It knocked them both out with a roundhouse and pounced forward towards the queen. Komugiko managed to smack it away with one of the tubes, but it recovered quickly and ran towards her again. This time, it dodged and jumped the tubes to reach her, and gave a closed chop to her head. She fell to her side, and the walking fiend knelt down, looking at the several tubes connected to her back and shoulders. Then, with a clawing, grasping motion, ripped into one of them.

Water sprayed out and gushed onto the floor, quickly forming a puddle around the queen as she began gasping with heavy takes of breath, giving the air of a fish out of water. The creature kicked her over to see her front more clearly and seemed to have been examining something. No one dared approach, and the queen could not do anything, but even though they were sure that Atsarute would rip out her throat, the dead general simply turned around and jetted out the door.

.----------------------.

"I can't believe you let him get away," Vegita growled, "We could have gotten out of this whole fucking mess and be on our way home if it wasn't for your incompetence!"

"Are you talking about General Atsarute?" Arufuredo removed his glasses and cleaned them with his shirt.

"Of course I'm talking about him! Who the Hell do you think I'm talking about? Santa Claus?"

He put the glasses back on. "I fail to see what your Earth mythological figures have to do with our situation."

"For a top scientist you're _really_ fucking dense."

Bulma slapped Vegita lightly on the shoulder and shot him a mean look. "Don't you think that he's going through enough already? How was Arufuredo to know that Atsarute would be able to hijack a small ship in his condition?"

Piccolo held his forehead, trying to ignore the arguments from both the outside and the inside. Gohan, naturally concerned, approached him. "Piccolo-san? Are you alright?"

"No. The cure managed to escape, everyone's fighting in my head, you guys are giving me a headache with your verbal spasms, and to top it off, even if the cure didn't escape, I wouldn't know what to do with it since I can't _see_ it."

"What do you mean you can't see it? Is something wrong with your eyes, Piccolo-san? Did the disorder affect your eyesight, too?"

"No, but I can't see it, or hear it, or sense its ki… and I'm willing to bet that I can't feel it, smell it, or taste it either."

"Really? That's weird… Why do you suppose that is?"

"The Fates are cruel and want to give me as many hindrances as possible."

"You should tell Arufuredo about it. He might know what's going on."

A chuckle came from the back of Piccolo's mind. _That stuffy, alien personality hasn't a single clue._

Piccolo blinked and spoke aloud, "You stopped fighting?"

_For the time being,_ his father said, _That creature is useless to you now, anyway. It's going back to one of its more familiar worlds to recuperate, and expects you and the Earthlings to follow._

"It does?" Piccolo was now preoccupied with the dialogue, confusing Gohan and leaving him out of the information. "How does it know?"

_It doesn't, really, but it noticed that you follow it, even though it can't sense you anymore than you can sense it. It figures that you will continue to follow. My only guess as to how it knows that you've been following is that you're its cure as it is your cure. Consider yourself lucky that it can't see you; it would surely rip your throat out._

The scientists poured out of the room where they were working on their queen and her equipment. They had to soak up and redeposit every molecule of water that got out (with the exception to whatever got onto Atsarute). The queen's life was in no danger now, but she would be a little weak while recovering her moisture. Arufuredo went to Piccolo immediately to give him this news, but Piccolo ignored it; he wanted nothing to do with such a questionable woman.

Seeing Piccolo's rejection of her, Chi-chi began to ponder something, and asked one of the soldiers nearby for a picture of Komugiko-joou _before_ she changed. He abided and soon passed her one, and she immediately excused herself with the mysterious briefcase that she'd been carrying into her room, shutting the door in the ever-curious Goku's face.

She opened the case and stared at the contents for a second. The clothes, newspaper clippings, and pictures didn't really deteriorate since she last saw them many years ago. She pulled out a certain photograph of a group of co-workers, mostly wearing similar uniforms. The picture of Komugiko-joou was placed right beside the image of a woman in a bartender's outfit, crossing her arms and holding a rather cold expression on her face. Both of these women looked proud and feminine, but certainly not weak. The piercing coldness of the bartender didn't match the youthful warrioress as much as the queen's yellow eyes now that stare from deep caves.

Chi-chi sighed. "I only brought this to jar his memory incase he really did lose it, but it looks like it might do a lot more…"

* * *

It was a while, wasn't it? …Oh shit it's already getting light.  
_**HISS! –hides in cave-**_


	12. Search and Truth

Disclaimer: Chapter 2.

Even though my college schedule is more lenient on me this semester than last, they still hold above fanfiction. Oh well. Less time less chapters.

* * *

Chi-chi couldn't get a hold of Piccolo immediately; he ran off to get something that he left "in a hotel". Apparently it was very important to him since he refused to leave without it.

He came back with a collection of alcohol and smoking blends in one hand and a dampening bag in the other, then asked Arufuredo if they had something portable to preserve organic matter.

"Yes, we do… why?"

"Could I perhaps borrow it for the time being? I have something that I've been trying to keep from rotting but its getting harder and harder to maintain it…"

"Very well," Arufuredo left briefly and came back with a silver, soft-edge box. "What is it that you want to preserve?"

Piccolo put down the drugs and reached into the bag, pulling out a severed, human head. This made everyone jump, and Bulma almost screamed and covered her mouth.

"I-I see…" Arufuredo made some adjustments on the box's setting and opened it.

Piccolo placed the girl's head in the box and shut it, and then taking took it into his hands, said, "I know that it seems odd, but it might hold some more clues on how to get rid of this mania."

Chi-chi strained to remember the name of the girls, and it came to her tongue before it came to her brain. "Uwaki!"

He blinked, hesitating before he turned to her. "What did you say?"

"That's Keshou Uwaki, isn't it?" _I knew that he hated her, but I never imagined…_ She came forward to him and showed him the picture of him and his co-workers. "You told me about them, remember?"

"Keshou Uwaki? Oh my God…" Bulma held her head. "You're kidding. _Piccolo_ killed Taifu's daughter?"

"Uwaki…" He said, looking at the picture. "That _is_ her… I remember now…" He paused a moment, then snickered. "I killed both her and Shuran, didn't I?"

"Err…" Chi-chi retreated a few steps. _Him too? Did he keep his head or just Uwaki's?_

"Can we get on the ship now?!" Arufuredo groaned, "We already know where Atsarute went, and it will only take us 6 hours to get there. Lets get on and discuss the decapitated head on the way…"

.----------------------.

The ship had 10 living quarters, which was more than they needed. Its size came from the fact that it was equipped with 3 full labs, a sickbay, and, in the main "observation" room, a large chamber behind a pane of glass for a living specimen.

Piccolo had immediately set away his things and announced that he would speak nothing more about it. But Chi-chi wouldn't leave him alone, and insisted on talking to him about a girl in the picture.

"I said that I wanted no more conversation on that wench's head!"

"I'm not talking about Uwaki!" She huffed, "I'm talking about Jin!"

"Jin?" He seemed rather stunned, and he sat down on the couch in the observation room. She came up beside him and showed him the picture again.

"You remember her, right? Jin Uotsuka?" She leaned over and spoke a little more quietly. "I know that it's been a while, but I'm sure that you still have feelings for her."

"That's ridiculous!" Piccolo reared his teeth. If he hadn't have already gotten everyone's attention, he would have now.

"How about the queen? You're suspicious of her, right?"

"Damn right, I'm suspicious! How could someone who never met me before know so much about me? And say that she wants to marry me?"

"Maybe if she's Jin, she could."

He looked on the ground. "…She can't possibly be Jin."

"Why not? Because she's decayed, she cannot be Jin? You know why that's happened. You know why she doesn't look young or like a Human. You knew that she was a warrior, and that she probably belonged to a high family."

"But… she _can't_ be… Jin was…" He paused and breathed for a moment. "Jin would never marry me, for one."

"Just because you were weaker at the time. You've gotten much stronger since then!"

"I have to be stronger than _her_. I know that I will never surpass her."

"Piccolo!"

"Is the Namek afraid of telling everyone else his little secret?" Vegita scoffed.

Goku merely scratched his head as he came out of his room. "Chi-Chi… I looked in that suitcase and all I found were men's clothes and some old newspaper articles. Who's is it?"

"This isn't the time, Goku." Chi-chi knew that this situation was giving her more trouble than she wanted, and Piccolo, already ready to fly off the handle, was getting more and more agitated. She turned back to him. "What makes you so self-deprecating, anyway? Why wouldn't she want to be with you?"

"Look, she didn't like Ma Jr. in the tournament. She preferred your husband because he was stronger. Do you honestly think that she'd accept me? She's more likely to accept him!"

"That was a long time ago, Piccolo."

"So was when we met, and worked together, and lived together. I walk into this universe, and it's not half a year before she realizes that I'm here? Does that sound at all plausible to you?"

"She seems to be able to always know where you are and your strength. Maybe she found you as soon as you came in and remembered you immediately?"

"So? It still doesn't explain why she…" He growled in frustration. "Look. I'll take care of it, whether she's Jin or not. I'm going to my room." He pushed everyone out of his way, including the still-chuckling Vegita.

Then the Saiya-jin prince exploded in laughter.

"Vegita!" Bulma scowled at her husband. "Really, you've done nothing since we got here except ridicule and argue. Don't you have training to do?"

"Training requires a place to train. Have the past few places had a training area?"

"It doesn't mean that you can't go do something else."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Oh, I don't know… read a book, watch television…"

"_What_ television? I never saw a television on these ships."

She rolled her eyes and took out a couple capsules. "_This_ one has a television, and _this_ one has several recordings of movies and shows that you could watch on it." She threw them to him. "Now, go off to our room and watch something. The Sopranos are in there, too, so there's _definitely_ something for you to watch."

Vegita grumbled a little since he lost another argument to his mate, but didn't really complain since he finally had something to do. This was about the moment when Gohan and Videl excused themselves into Gohan's room, earning a nagging "Keep your door open, Gohan!" from his mother, bringing a furious blush to both of their faces.

.----------------------.

Upon landing on the planet (a cold, backwater place of mostly swamp called Palus VI) there was no hesitation before they began looking for the ship. They tracked it down quickly, and Arufuredo and Bulma went into the computers and accessed the files.

Videl didn't understand why they didn't just go straight for Atsarute. "Why are you looking through the computers, anyway?"

"It's important to see if the video feed of this vessel recorded and is intact for study. We might have a better chance of trapping and containing the walking fiend if we know how it acts."

"I got something!" Bulma shouted as the screen blinked on. A high-angled video of Atsarute taking over the ship commenced, showing how it pulled and kicked out everyone from the ship (which was a simple thing with only a main chamber). It managed to use the controls to shut the door, lift off, and set the course. However, it did these actions very slowly, and progressively retarded until it typed in the last digits it needed and collapsed on the floor. Bulma fast-forwarded through until it woke up not an hour before the ship landed. It got up, shook its head a bit, and simply left the craft when it touched ground.

"This seems to suggest," Arufuredo began, "that it cannot perform actions that require great mental ability without exhausting itself. We might be able to use this to our advantage. For instance, it gets out of our grasp because we don't think that it can possibly have the mental capacity to go against us (it seems to be regaining its former intellect somehow).

Bulma nodded. "I see. We might be able to keep it contained by such complex methods that it tires itself out before it could escape."

"Precisely."

Piccolo walked absentmindedly towards a different direction, obviously somewhat agitated and wishing to continue searching for it immediately. Anything to get that constant babble in his head to stop. The scientists eventually finished up their observations of the ship.

Piccolo lead them in the direction that he was compelled to go through thick vines and cold wetland that went past the shins often. Everyone trudged through until a call went through the foliage.

"Atsarute-sama!"

"What was that?" Videl pulled closer to Gohan.

"Atsarute-sama!" A different voice called.

"Great." Arufuredo shook his head. "They know that their general is here. If they find us…"

"Let's just lie low," Vegita said with a scowl on his face, as if he didn't like suggesting such a cowardly action.

They ducked behind rocks into the water, making some of the women squirm in their great discomfort of having cold swamp-water cover more than half their bodies and soaking into their clothes. Several soldiers of another uniform approached, looking around to every corner of the overhanging branches.

"Atsarute-sama! Atsarute-sama!" They all called again, trying to find their general. One turned to the largest man in the center.

"Are you certain that Atsarute-sama is here?"

"I recognized the scent. Who else could it be? My nose is infallible."

"But it would be hard to find a scent again in swamp, wouldn't it?"

"Which is precisely why we're having trouble." He turned and gestured to go in a different direction, briefly looking back, sniffing the air, and then shrugging before he went back into the mossy wood.

* * *

You'll have to pardon me if I start falling back into Star Trek lingo. I managed to make one of my essential classes ST based, and I used to be a _major_ trekkie when I was a kid (how bad I was: I knew how the warp drives worked when I was about 9). 


	13. Carving

Disclaimer: That second chapter that I've been talking about for the past while.

I am _really_ curious about where my readers are, now. I've already reached past MOTS's chapter number but the review number is still lower. Hmm…  
And, for the record, the "Mebana" prequel may be a while. I want to dilute my fanfiction with more non-romance first.

* * *

"Let's hurry and move in the opposite direction!" Arufuredo lead them through the thick water to the other side, trying to slosh through as quietly as he could. 

They reached solid ground and reorganized themselves, Piccolo leading, and continued their search for Atsarute. When they felt to be a comfortable enough distance from the band of Atsarute's soldiers, a quiet chatter among them began to form.

"Kuririn-san," Gohan said in a low dynamic, "You've been quieter than usual lately."

"Yeah, and Vegita's been pissy-er than usual."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"Well, _my_ reason is because I miss my family. It seems like it's been _months_ since I've seen 18 or Marron…"

"Do you think that's why Vegita's angry? Because he misses Trunks?"

"Meh… that might be part of it, but I wouldn't bet my money on it. Same goes for not being able to train. I think that it's really because of Arufuredo."

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"Bulma and Arufuredo keep talking all of the time, discussing science, technology, and whatever else that goes over my head when those two talk."

"You think that Vegita might be jealous?"

"Well, it's not like he could beat him in that field. I'm sure he doesn't know a snippet of anything that they're talking about, despite the fact that he's been around advanced technology all of his life. You've noticed it too. Whenever he breaks something, he goes straight to Bulma or her father to have it fixed."

"Gohan." Videl placed her hand on his shoulder on the other side of him, making him turn to her. "Are you sure that this is safe? Tension _is_ getting kind of high among us, and even with that, we're chasing after the reanimated corpse some infamous military general."

He sighed. "I don't know, but the way things are going, I don't think that we have a choice otherwise."

.-.

Komugiko-joou was quickly regaining her strength, but her subjects would not leave her alone before she agreed to return to her homeworld… along with escorts, medical personnel, and extra guards. She didn't like the extra attention, but she abided to it for their comfort anyway.

The tank and tubes were already repaired and replaced, and her ship didn't take long (despite all of the extra precautionary steps) to take off and set course. She quickly brought herself into a brooding state, ignoring the half-dozen guards that stood attention around the chamber room. Her thoughts went not to the general that put them in this state of alarm, but the Namekku-sei-jin man that scowled at her and gave an aura of resentment towards her. _Why did he put off such an untrusting air? Does he suspect my intentions as a sort of intrigue? I don't see how, as he knows little of his background… Perhaps it is his nature to be so skeptical of those unknown to him? Surely, he does not know what he is dealing with… alone and without my guidance, that walking fiend will surely rip him apart. It came in here stalking him, so surely it was waiting for the right moment to strike…_

She looked back towards the bubbling glow of the tank. _But, he is not alone. My best scientist and his unusual friends are with him on this mission. After they capture it and he regains his health, he won't have his defenses up so high, Atsarute will be out of the picture for good, and I will finally regain my old self with new power…_

A grin crept across her face. _I'll finally be able to rule a true empire with my real face and a man of genuine strength at my side. I won't be outdone as long as my plan works out, as it should. Dr. Arufuredo has been given his orders, and he will not break them per his loyalty and honor._

She pulled out the ribbon and gazed into it, trying to determine something from the streams. _Atsarute is regaining strength and intelligence, but that will not matter. There is no way that walking pile of rotting flesh will be able to get assistance of any kind before it is recaptured in my name…_

.-.

Piccolo's constantly changing path turned into a solid one, showing that the walking fiend must have stopped moving. Whether it had paused to rest or to plan an ambush for them was uncertain at this point. There was no way of being able to tell what its intentions were since it was definitely hiding its ki.

He made a tired slump in his shoulders as they went on, becoming more impatient with these circumstances by the minute. It was a few moments before he realized that the fighting in his head had stopped, and his father was trying to hail his attention.

_What is it that you want, old man?_ Piccolo's eyes narrowed.

I was just thinking that the Human wench might be on to something. You're attitude here is not too different from when you tired of your training several years ago…

He audibly groaned. _Not you too! That decrepit, nosey creature could not possibly be Jin!_

_Hold off your indigence until after I provide my thoughts to you. Do you believe this is all coincidence? I would not have thought of having you kill Uwaki and Shuran if it were the case. I would have simply had you go through a killing spree. There is much more symbolism in this situation, my son. Heh, I'm quite pleased that you decided to take that trollop's head as a trophy. It's a stroke of genius that will make everything a lot easier…_

_What does this have to do with Jin?_

_You seriously doubt that Jin even exists anymore, don't you? I believe that you made her dead to your mind…_

Where did this stupid idea come from? I'd say that you're pulling shit out of your ass if you had one.

_I saw it clearly. If Jin cannot exist for you, she does not exist at all, or might as well not. Chances of meeting her again were too great, and even if you did, there may be no use of it, so you gave up on it long ago…_

_But what does this have to do with the fucking head!_

_When she sees it, she will recognize it. Perhaps not immediately, but it will definitely strike a chord with her. That should be proof enough to you of who she is._

_I say again, that crone cannot be Jin!_

But Daimaou only laughed and retreated back in the mind, holding away all the answers that his son's mind was thirsting for to satisfy the many questions that were raised and remained unanswered.

Piccolo snapped out of this mindset just in time to keep from smashing his nose into a tree. He scowled at it, and then noticed that writing was carved into it. It was in an alien script.

The others piled behind him. "What does it say?" Bulma said towards Arufuredo.

He adjusted his glasses slightly and leaned forward. "It says, 'Halt. By the order of your General, the Puroeriun soldiers are ordered henceforth to discontinue their search for me and wait for further orders. The peach-colored aliens and their Pasuko-jin escorts are not to be bothered, as I have my own plans for them. If they indeed read this message themselves, perhaps they could be conscientious enough to await my appearance.' After that is Atsarute's signed seal."

"You've got to be kidding," Videl said, pointing to the etching in the bark, "He couldn't possibly have written that in the state that he's in!"

Arufuredo looked at Videl oddly for a moment, as if something she said confused him, but then he seemed to understand and explained, "This carving is actually rather fresh, indicating that Atsarute only recently had the capacity to write it, and it is covered with Atsarute's signature ki, showing that there was much effort put into writing this. Chances are, the walking fiend is nearby, resting."

"It said that it had plans for us, right?" Chi-chi frowned. "What do you think it's going to do? Rip our throats out like the others?"

"Perhaps, but it's doubtful. What intrigues me more is that it expected us to come. Any trap that it might be weaving seems to be more complex than it is capable of making at this moment." He sat by the tree's roots. "We should wait here until it appears."

Vegita crossed his arms and walked past the doctor, looking ahead into the woods instead of making eye contact. "Wouldn't it be better to go off and look for it _before_ it finds us? You said that it's resting, so we can just capture it _now_ and not have to deal with a fight or anything of the like."

"That would jeopardize the mission more than help it. Please, let us just wait."

"You can sit here all you want, but we're going to find it first! Come on, Kakarotto!"

Goku tilted his head. "I don't think we should go anywhere, Vegita. Piccolo stopped here, and it's hiding, so we have to wait till he continues."

"Is that all?" Vegita faced Piccolo. "So, where is he, Namek? What direction do we go now?"

Piccolo seemed to not be interested in the seething Saiya-jin prince before him, but answered anyway. "Nowhere."

"So you think that we should wait, too?"

"No. It's stopped at this tree." He looked up. "For all I know, it could be in the branches, watching us."

Everyone stopped making noise, looking up as well, searching for any movement or sound. Then, the ones with more sensitive ears (excluding Piccolo) could pick up a low string of slow, steady sighs from above.

"It sounds like it's sleeping," Goku said, still peering into the leaves. Then, the sighs stopped suddenly, and some rustling followed.

There was a low growl before, "_Caaa…caaataalyystsss…_" Its voice was hoarse and raspy, and its efforts to speak seemed very pushed.

"What did it say?" Bulma retreated back towards her husband.

It spoke again. "_…Catalysts…_"

"'Catalysts?' What does it mean by that?" Gohan stepped forward, trying to see more clearly into the dark canopy.

The creature shot down in an instant upon Piccolo. He fell backwards before he understood what was going on, still unable to even feel the weight of the walking fiend that was now crouched on top of him.

The others locked eyes straight onto the being. It was still dressed entirely in the black wraps it had when it infiltrated the lab, with a large, black mantle on its shoulders, serving to hide a lot of its body underneath. The only part of it that remained unwrapped was small windows left open for its eyes, which glared at the others in a cold yet wild stare.

Piccolo forced it off of him by picking himself up. The thing fell backwards, then looked about, confused. "_Ss—senseless…?_" It looked around, sniffing, peering, trying all means to find Piccolo, but it couldn't sense him anymore than he could sense it.

"A-Atsarute-sama…" Arufuredo attempted to approach it, but it turned and growled at him.

"_Do not approach…_" It sat upon the ground as a cat would. "_Or die…_"

* * *

I'm being a little less tactful from time to time, but everything seems to be working out in the big picture. I'm mostly just teasing like hell while I'm trying to pump out a solid storyline. Bwahahaha…ha. 


	14. Definitions of Chaos

Disclaimer: Chapter 2.

Yes, yes I do enjoy using plot-devices so I can be like, "Ha ha! I've got the knowledge and you don't!" I find it quite entertaining.

* * *

The scientists were working practically the entire night to combine data and update logs. Since this included Bulma's assistance and a lot of silence, the others had to amuse themselves either quietly or outside the ship, which lead to a good deal of training among the warriors. Vegita was more aggressive than usual, but it wasn't really unexpected considering. 

Regarding the unusual situation with Atsarute, it only got stranger. It accepted its capture willingly, indeed walking into the holding area by its own power, not resisting or assaulting.

Vegita came back into the ship just in time to see Arufuredo walk out of the lab with a small, translucent container and what looked like a very fine-bristled floor brush. There was a pair of goggles pulled back on his head that looked like they had a specific purpose.

"Are you _still_ working on the damn files?" Vegita sneered at the tired doctor.

"I've read through and noted the logs made by the walking fiend's previous captors. Its intellectual capabilities have definitely increased, but I have yet to witness a certain behavior that they described."

"So it doesn't do it anymore. Big fucking deal."

"You don't understand. This has to do with it's appearance, and, in all honesty, I haven't had a clear look of it except the few, low-quality stills in the logs, and that was while it was in their captivity, anyway. In order to witness it for myself, Atsarute has to take off its wraps. Right now, I'm taking some samples of what it might have shed in the cell. Now, if you don't mind…"

"First-" Vegita held his arm out to block the doctor's path. "-Explain to me why it agreed to surrender, and why it's acting so oddly. What else are we going to do after this, by the way? I don't see a reason that _we_ have to wait for you to finish your shit. Just hand him over to that queen of yours."

"That's unacceptable! I've already told you my plans to betray the queen! I can't just _give_ her General Atsarute!"

"Why not? He's_ dead!_ He's just a zombie, wondering around, trying to get back to life when he can't! How can that pathetic thing lead an army?"

"I have to try something! Besides, I can't turn it over to Komugiko-joou until _after_ I've finished the research."

"So what's taking you so fucking long? Why aren't you already finished!"

"Maybe if you shut that blowhard trap of yours I can get some work done!"

He was slammed into the wall by the prince's fist before he knew it. Vegita crossed his arms and scoffed. "All of your constant 'studying' has made you weak, _scientist_."

Arufuredo rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand, and then stood straight with a serious glower. In a snatching motion, he removed the glasses from his nose and slipped them into his pocket. "You've done nothing except rat on my ass and be a fucking pain since this mission started! If that's the way you want to play—" he cracked his knuckles"-I wont be so rude as to not oblige!" He raced forward with a punch, but Vegita jumped to dodge it and kicked towards the man's face. Arufuredo blocked with his forearms then sent him backwards with a thrust. Vegita landed and went back into stance, but the fight was now over.

"Damnit!" Bulma had raced in between the two and faced her husband, her arms outstretched to block Arufuredo. "What the Hell do you think you're doing, Vegita! What is this all about?"

Vegita spat onto the floor. "If that bastard's so smart, he should know when to keep his mouth shut." Without allowing her to question any further, he shot stormily into their room and slammed the door loudly behind him.

"What's going on?" Goku and his son, followed quickly by the others, had jumped in to find out the cause of all the ruckus. "We heard fighting. What happened?"

"I've not a clue," Arufuredo answered, "Your friend confronted me and attacked. Is he always so hostile?" A beep came from a console. He put up a finger as request for them to hold the response and pressed some buttons. Komugiko appeared on the screen.

"M-my Empress!" He scrambled for his glasses and tried to put on an honorable facsimile. "What is it that you wish of me?"

"Doctor, you look like you've been in a bit of a scuttle. Have you had trouble since you've reached the planet?"

"You could say that…"

"Do you mind giving me a verbal report?"

"…Now?"

"Yes, if you don't mind. I'm slightly worried by what I've observed from the streams. Have you spoken to the Namekku-sei-jin about what I told you?"

"No, my Empress."

"Good. I've noticed that your position isn't far from Atsarute. How is your progress?"

"Uhh… _well_…" He coughed. "We've found some signs and are trying to catch up with previous logs and reports. Capture is assured, however it may be difficult. It would be wrong to this crew for me to give a deadline or even a rough estimate. The situation must be approached with extreme caution."

The queen was silent for a long moment, staring at him. "I see… you will report to me when it is captured immediately. Understood?"

"Yes, my Empress."

"Good luck." The screen blanked out.

"Transition ended…" Arufuredo turned, sighed, and slouched back on the console. "_Damn_, I hope she's not getting on to me…"

Rustling came from the observation cell. He flipped the switch for the light and saw the walking fiend pacing about in its space. "_Lovely_, it's awake. It's not going to let me get the samples, now."

Gohan looked at him curiously. "Which samples would that be?"

"Dead skin cells that it might have shed in the cell. I need to analyze it for properties discussed in the logs."

"What properties would that be?" Bulma moved a strand of hair back behind her ear.

"Apparently, it's guise changes from day to night. During the night, the previous captors recorded that Atsarute looked normal; before death. At day, you could see the corpse's decay and bare muscle—" Kuririn shivered as he said this, "—They speculated that night allowed some sort of sorcery associated with the death to restore a living face."

"That's kind of like _Prometheus Bound_," Bulma said, wrapping her own arms around herself.

"With my knowledge of the talisman that was stolen and the added information of how it becomes irritated in the sunlight, I've come to suspect something. My notions are inconclusive, which is why I need the skin cells." He removed his glasses and pulled down his goggles. "I might as well try."

.-.

Piccolo, per usual, was spending his time meditating: it was the weaker of the two distractions from the old men's shouting. The strongest one was, however, more annoying than the fights, and managed to creep into his consciousness more often than the babble.

It did so again. _Jin… was it Jin in my dream? That woman whose face was obscured by memory and who wore that ornate wedding dress?_ He shook his head. _Best not to think of such things. It's… pointless? Damnit, the old man was right. I'm ignoring the subject. I…might as well… _The image of the woman in the dress came to mind; the one while she still smiled, before the dream became horrid. The way he remembered Jin filled in the blackness that represented her body and it matched perfectly, fitting like a piece in a puzzle.

Then his mind took the rest. "Are you staying for the ceremony? Please say that you will." She giggled and turned from him, walking away slightly from him like a modest bride would. "You should be there at the reception, too. The drinks that we're having are really out of this world."

He looked up at her from his sedentary position on the ground, but said nothing.

"What's wrong? You act like you don't know me anymore."

"Please stop…"

"Please stop!" She echoed. Her eyes clenched in pain, and her side, which was injured from that spaceship-wreck years ago, began to bleed and soak a growing blotch into the dress.

"Jin!" He rose and took a single pace to her, then grasped her shoulders. "Please, explain to me what you have to do with all of this!"

She lowered at him frighteningly and slowly bowed her head, allowing her hair to hide her face. "I'm supposed to be getting married today, damnit!" Then it rose again, but it was now showing the cruel snicker of the queen. "To you." Her wrinkly hands shot up and grasped his arms before he could retreat.

Piccolo struggled. "Let go, bitch! A person like you can't be!"

"What is it? This leathery hide of mine displeases you?" Her grin grew wider, and her forehead along the hairline bubbled, and her face began to melt from the meaty skull. "Shouldn't you be more afraid of what's _under_ it?"

He finally broke from the meditation and gasped for air like he just came from the water. Still sitting on the ground, his arms were outstretched to the ground before him, and his exhales were dry hisses coming from his fanged mouth. This upset all of the other occupants in his head enough for them to drop whatever they were doing and ask questions. He closed his eyes and rose. _There's nothing to explain; it was just a mental exercise that went too far._

.-.

Atsarute's intelligence improved enough that it could explain some of its situation. It allowed the Earthlings around because they were "catalysts", and they helped it regain former capacities by just being present. When asked why them specifically, it answered that they were catalysts of its condition in mentality and their presence helped reverse it. It was caused by a curse that was placed upon it during a battle about half a year ago (it still didn't quite explain how they were catalysts to this). When asked about the talisman that killed it, it said that it was trying to use it for the curse's removal.

Its speech wasn't improving, so it relayed all of this through writing. There was still so much effort involved, so it now slept for the fifth time in the discussion, curled up in the corner.

Arufuredo had been studying the skin cells, but maintained that he needed fresher, living ones, and came in every day for more samples, some harvested from the floor, some from its arm. It only unwrapped for this cultivation, and even then it was only an inch that was quickly hidden again.

Whenever Piccolo came into the observation room, he instinctively stood by the glass pane that separated him from the fiend. The fiend also tended to sit near him and slightly follow his movements. It was well established that the two were unable to perceive each other through any means, which gave another question for the scientists to answer.

Piccolo stared into the emptiness towards the sleeping creature. _How am I going to use a cure that I cannot see? Should I hide behind that queen and have her distill the antidote with those tubes for me? Is that what this whole thing means?_

* * *

Fast chapter. Yay. Now, I have work to do and a sprained knee to nurse. 


	15. Observe

Disclaimer: Chapter 2.

-Mischievous chuckle-. The plan is working.

* * *

There was a scientist working on the "view screen" (pretty much a Pasuko-jin television, since that was all it was ever used for) since Chi-chi, of all people, accidentally broke it while trying to throw something at her husband. Goku dodged, and there was a projectile incident, so to speak. At this moment, the hookups were getting fixed. Images flashed on and off between blank screens and static. The person working on it seemed to have been going through a lot of trouble.

Atsarute was trying to communicate more often, but now, it would write two different messages: one's meant to be read aloud by Arufuredo was in basic script, and there was another in Namekkian, asking for the "senseless catalyst". It knew that Piccolo was there, and that he was a Namekku-sei-jin, but it still couldn't sense him at all.

The messages were usually along the lines of: "Who will kill whom first? Which is destined to die? You're a catalyst as well, and perhaps the most important. I might need to rip out your throat." These were drawn on the papers given to it to communicate.

He refused to offer any answers to it. Instead, he was trying to figure out how it could possibly be a cure. The thought of the queen taking all of its moisture out and giving it to him came from when Gohan told him about their first meeting with her in detail. If she was Jin and was necessary in this whole thing, then that scenario was the only possibility that he could deduce.

"Well, Piccolo," Arufuredo said, sitting down on the long couch before the observation cell and looking at the Namek, "How am I going to convince you to let me take a look at your eyes or that cerebrum? I'm curious as to why you can't see General Atsarute over there."

"I told you before, it has nothing to do with my physical body."

"You didn't quite explain how that conclusion came about, though."

"The others that occupy this body can sense it just fine."

"'Others'? Oh, right. That disorder you have with the Yuugou(a/n)… that's such a strange case. It took me a long while to find _any_ texts on it…"

"Let's leave it at that. I don't feel like discussing it."

"Very well. Is there anything you would like to discuss? Perhaps about the queen?"

There was a long pause. "How did you know?"

"You were looking at that picture of her before she gained the empire for quite some while. I'm curious as to if it's due to your suspicions of her or whether there's another factor involved."

Piccolo growled slightly. "The reasons aren't important, but I would like to know what it was she was telling you when she called you before her. I don't believe that you would mind, being that you're a traitor and such…"

Arufuredo looked stunned for a minute, then it seemed to hit him. "Oh yeah! I sort of… zoned out while she was talking. I can't really remember a smite of it."

"You're kidding me."

"Heh… well, I stopped sort of listening after she told me to get out a diagram of Katatsu's lineage, so I brought it up on my computer and… well…"

"Well, what?"

"I came upon a picture of one of the princesses in the family and sort of stopped…" He smiled sheepishly. "I didn't hear a word until she finally yelled at me to stand down and snapped me out of it."

"…So you were just ogling an image of some girl that whole time?"

"Toniko-hime is a very beautiful and—" he coughed, "—influential woman. She's near the head of the line in her family and one of Katatsu's first grandchildren."

Piccolo rolled his eyes. "That's nice, as well as absolutely useless to me. I was hoping that you might be able to give me some insight on her, like maybe she told you something that could be of use to me."

"What were you expecting?"

"Never mind… it's not important."

Something buzzed onto the screen again and started forming a clear feed. The scientist working on it climbed out from under it and closed the bulkhead. "That should do it… What kind of image are we getting?" He looked up at it. "What the Hell…? This something of yours, Arufuredo?"

Arufuredo sat up and looked over. "Oh, that's a recording of one of the major fighting tournaments on Earth. That's how I found out about these guys in the first place."

The man watched it for a little while. "They don't look all that strong in here."

"That particular tournament is rather old. You should see how much these guys improve as time progresses through these recordings."

Piccolo glanced over at it. "It's the 23rd Tenkaichi Boudokai. Would you mind turning it off?"

"I guess," the scientist said, but when he reached to pull up another video, Atsarute growled threateningly from its pen.

"Ehhh… Do you wish to watch this, Atsarute-sama?" Arufuredo sweat-dropped, not expecting the dead general to care about whatever could be on the tube.

It nodded then lay down to watch it, its eyes following any fighter that was there.

Piccolo looked over at the blank space behind him. "Why does he want to watch people that are probably weaker than him fight?"

"To study technique? Even if you were weaker then, it might not make a difference to Atsarute at this point. It might bring a sense of identity to it… Hey, is that you in that fight? You're fighting that midget Kuririn…"

"Yeah… that's me…"

"If you don't mind me saying, you look bloody anorexic in this video."

"…Gee, how nice of you to say so…Fuck off, already…"

.-.

Atsarute's soldiers had gathered around the tree with the carved message in it. The superior sniffed at it and analyzed it a while before, "There's no doubt about it. This was written by Atsarute-sama.

The others looked at each other uncertainly. One finally spoke up, "Why do you think Atsarute-sama is telling us to hold off like this? There's definitely something wrong. Why aren't we allowed to help?"

The superior sighed. "I believe it's the very reason that something is wrong. Atsarute-sama is a leader of strength and self-reliance." He turned from the tree to the group. "The best we can do is to remain calm and do as we are ordered for now. We'll not bother the people mentioned in this message and await further instruction."

Everyone was obviously uncomfortable with this decision. No matter what, they couldn't get around the idea of having to be idle while their leader went through difficulties. "But, Jakkaru …we can't just stand by like this. We have to do something!"

Jakkaru groaned. "The most that we can do is continue patrol of this planet to make sure that no more enemies come here. They are to be captured and placed in detention, for now. We won't kill them unless we get the word."

.-.

Suddenly, Atsarute jumped back, acting somewhat startled, and began growling, staring directly in Piccolo's direction.

Arufuredo looked over to it. "Is something upsetting you, Atsarute-sama?"

It only snarled more at Piccolo, who was leaning on the "glass" of the observation cell, and worked with the wrappings on its right hand.

Piccolo didn't seem to care about what the thing that he couldn't see was doing, looking off to the side, not particularly at anything.

Then he heard a loud bang and scratching sound from behind his neck. He jumped and whirled around to see deep claw marks in the glass, but still not the thing that caused it. There was some discarded black material on the floor.

"Damn!" Arufuredo exclaimed, "It's a good thing that it's not loose!"

"What's going on?" Piccolo demanded.

"I think… I think it can sense you now…Can you sense it?"

He shook his head. "Not at all… fuck. And it tried to attack me?"

"Yeah… wait a second…" He approached the cell slowly. "It took off the wrappings around its hand… probably so that its claws could get to you better…"

The scientist that was previously working on the view screen decided that now would be a good time to sprint to the lab, almost knocking into Chi-chi. "What was with him?" She said, glancing back in the running man's wake before setting her eyes upon the threatening fiend. "What happened?"

Piccolo moved back towards the couch, unsure of what to do. "I don't know. This thing was apparently watching the view screen until it decided to attack me."

"Yeah…" Arufuredo said, watching the fiend's eyes shift along with the Namek's movements, "It can see you now; there's no doubt about it… Great, _now_ I won't be able to open the door to gather samples and feed it."

Chi-chi switched her eyes from the fiend to Arufuredo. "What do you mean?"

"Well, now that it can see Piccolo, and obviously wants to kill Piccolo, I can't possibly get in without risking its escape…"

"I mean feeding it. It _eats_?"

"Oh. Yes, yes it does… I normally put its food in while everyone's asleep anyway as it prefers complete privacy when it eats… There hasn't been a record of walking fiends eating, but there are few credible accounts, so its probably never been observed or cataloged."

She knelt down to get a better look at the unwrapped hand. "I don't think it was eating well before. It looks a bit thin."

Bulma came up right behind her, and stepped back a bit when she saw Atsarute in its threatening, animal-like stance. "What's with him? He looks pissed. Did Vegita try taunting it again?"

"No, but speaking of your husband," Arufuredo coughed with a tight brow, "Is he finally over himself and coming out of your room, or is he still moping?"

"That man," she sighed, "I haven't a clue what to do with him. He'll only sit there and watch movies on our television. He won't get out to train with the others. He scarcely leaves for food!"

"Maybe he's sick…" Chi-chi said.

"_Or maybe he's just a little bitch…"_ Arufuredo grumbled under his breath, then he turned to his lab and repealed from the others. "I've got work to do, so I can't train today, either. I'm trying to isolate something and it's really hard to define…"

The women groaned in unison. "So easy for him to say, the boys happen to be getting homesick," said Chi-chi, "I thought they would lighten up with a bigger training session, that usually snaps Goku out of it at least."

"Hmm…" Bulma tapped her chin in thought for a moment. "I noticed that about practically everyone else, but I haven't seen it in Gohan."

"Of course not. He's so infatuated with Videl that he doesn't seem to care about anything else." She giggled. "He's growing up."

Piccolo had proceeded to walk off at this point, knowing that these gossips were only a few sentences away from asking him how he felt on this issue. _Father, you'd best tell me how to get the bloody cure soon._

* * *

(a/n)Yuugou – the word for Namekku-sei-jin merging/fusing. I never used it before because, frankly, I didn't know it.  
I wanted to get this out on Valentine's Day along with a chapter for one of my other fics, but things never work out that way. Now, I must work on my paper on the Klingon language for class. Seriously. 


	16. The Enemy's Impatience

Disclaimer: **Now 90 percent guaranteed to be in chapter 2!**  
_(The remainder 10 percent accounts for when the author bullshits randomly.)_  
I've got another interesting little side project to stretch my mind a bit and extend my trivial fandom. My research into Klingon and artificial languages for my college paper brought the idea of compiling Namekku-go, the Japanese word that describes the Namek language, from manga and Japanese episodes into a working language because I'm that much of a nerd.  
A basic greeting in Namekku-go (like "konnichiwa") is "piconnato". Hurray, you learned something today!

* * *

Vegita was finally training with the others after many days of Bulma coaxing him instead of helping Arufuredo with Atsarute (which was becoming more difficult than ever with it's being able to see Piccolo). He was now dodging the blasts of Goku and returning in a flurry of attacks of his own, which gradually turned into a battle royal with Kuririn and Gohan. The women got together and chatted, mostly about Videl's future plans with Gohan. 

Piccolo somehow became more reclusive than ever, meditating outside on the other side of the ship, away from the training session and away from Atsarute. Whenever he caught his father in a moment where they could "converse" freely, he questioned about the cure, becoming more and more annoyed by his situation than ever before.

Daimaou's vagueness just aggravated it even further. _That thing's the cure, but it's not ready yet. Don't worry about it until it is._

_How will I know when it's ready? How the Hell should I use it when it is?_

_You will know when it's ready, and you will know what to do when it happens._

_What kind of cryptic nonsense is that?_

Such were how these conversations continued.

And, in more detail on the study of the walking fiend, it has already tried to escape three times, wounded several scientists in these attempts, and has now become incredibly belligerent. It paced about its cell in an irritable manner, growling at every passerby. They attempted putting on the recording of the 23rd Tenkaichi Boutoden, as well as other videos of fighting tournaments, but they did not succeed to appease its temper. It was now virtually impossible to feed it without tranquilizing it with gas, to which it was already gaining a tolerance.

.-.

The four fighters were facing each other in a cardinal-system like formation again, trying to stare one another down and give themselves a chance to catch a breath.

"Kuririn, you're getting more and more tired. You can take a break," Goku said when he glanced over to his heavily breathing, old friend. Kuririn was, after all, a Human, and had a lot of difficulty keeping up with the Saiya-jin.

But he shook his head. "I'm not nearly as bad off as you think. I don't need a break." And with this, he charged towards Gohan.

"Halt! Who's there!"

The sudden voice surprised Kuririn and made him tumble into Gohan instead of actually making an attack. The two scrambled to get up and face the figure now brandishing a weapon at Goku and Vegita. He either wore full battle armor, or had steel for skin and black pits for eyes.

"State your names and species, lest I cut you down at this very spot!" He shouted, pointing a sword that looked recently shined towards Goku.

The friendly Saiya-jin blinked and tried to approach without intent to harm, but the man slashed at him and forced him to stay at bay while he talked. "My name is Son Goku. This is Vegita, a friend of mine. Over there," he gestured towards the two men dusting their clothes from their fall. "Is my son Gohan and my best friend, Kuririn. We're here to—"

"What race are you? Speak up!"

"Eh… Vegita and me are Saiya-jin… Kuririn is Human, and Gohan is both Saiya-jin and Human…"

The armored figure didn't speak for a while. "I never heard of such races. Why should I believe that you're not trying to deceive me?"

"And who are you to question us?" Vegita had quite enough of this guy already. "I'll have you know that I'm the prince of my race."

"So? I'm of royal blood as well, and my race is more than likely superior in size to yours. Hurry and explain yourselves, or I shall become impatient. Are you traveling with any Pasuko-jin?"

"Yes…" Goku answered, and found the blade half a centimeter from his face.

"Where's Atsarute-sama?" He growled.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a second!" Kuririn came forward towards the side of this man. "Didn't you see that message about peach colored aliens? We're the peach colored aliens!"

"I'm aware of that, but it doesn't matter," he said, "I can sense that Atsarute-sama is angry and trying desperately to do something, and if you're the one's hindering my general, I will kill you upon this spot."

Piccolo chose this time to come from the other side of the ship into the middle of this threatening and interrogation, raising a brow as he pushed some brush aside towards the training clearing. "What is going on here? Who the fuck are you?"

"Namek!" the armored man yelled, "What purpose do you have with these people? Have you joined the Pasuko-jin against General Atsarute as well?"

"I'm not in the mood to be spoken down to, _ass_." Piccolo's voice seemed like it was soaked in frustration from his last exchange with his father. "I asked the questions first, and I expect them to be answered first."

"Certainly, Namek, you know who it is that you're talking to, or are you too drunk off your gourd to recognize me?"

"If I even knew you, how Hell could I tell from that clunky suit?" He glowered.

"Your insolence is intolerable! What is your name?"

Piccolo just stared as tight browed as before, then turned around towards the ship. "Piss off."

"Come back here!" He called, but when he found he was being ignored, he avoided the advances of the four "peach" men and charged after him as he entered the ship, and both ended up in a grapple in the observation room.

Atsarute was awoken by the struggling and sat up, growling at the two, particularly Piccolo, as they tried to overcome each other. The noise finally alerted Arufuredo, who was tweaking the preservation box (to make sure that it worked in this ship's condition of air as well). He brought the partially opened item with him into the observation room, and was knocked backwards by the men's fight. The box fell and Uwaki's head rolled out right in front of the cell.

"Oh _shit!_"Arufuredo didn't know how Atsarute would react to the sight of a severed head since it was now in such a violent mood again. He tried to duck through between the fight, but to no avail. It wasn't until then he realized who was fighting, and immediately tried to break it up.

"Gentlemen!" He grabbed each shoulder and pushed them apart. "Suraku-sama! What are you doing here?"

The man glared at the scientist. "And what business do you have to speak to me like an ally, Pasuko-jin?"

An odd sound interrupted Suraku's actions of proceeding to fight with the doctor as well. It was a dry, scratchy, guttural sequence of breath coming from the walking fiend.

"What is it doing?" Piccolo asked, not quite sure as to how to place the sound or the shuddering of the thing's shoulders.

"I think…" Arufuredo picked up the box and looked back at the head. "I think that it's laughing."

"At what?"

"That head. It thinks its funny."

"What's so funny about it?"

"Atsarute had a very weird sense of humor. Let me try something…" He approached and slowly took the head off the ground, then placed it back in the box and shut it. The fiend was still chuckling a bit, but it eventually quit and went back to sleep, not offering another growl.

Suraku turned towards the cage and stood without uttering a word for the longest time. "You're not telling me… that can't be…"

"It is, Suraku-sama. It can communicate with you after its woken up. In the meantime… I guess we have to explain everything to each other."

Piccolo looked over back towards the door. The other warriors had already piled in, and had been there a while, but seemed so confused by the event that none of them knew how to effect such a peculiar situation.

.-.

Jakkaru had his head bowed in worry as he sat in his branch office of Palus VI. He could sense the influx of his general's frustrated power just as well as Suraku, but he decided to do nothing. Suraku was much younger, though, and tended to act rashly without Atsarute's guidance. _Normally, _I'm_ the one pulling this shit,_ he thought, and then looked over at a jar containing slivers of bark from a Kocyp tree, then pulled out a few strands and began chewing on them with his molars.

After a few minutes of gnawing at the treat, he sent out an order for some of the others to come. Jakkaru wasn't known for his intelligence, his wisdom, his ability to lead, or his charisma, but he did know patience and honor, and these were qualities that no one doubted in him. There were times that he felt that he should have gone into the same business as his father, the business of planet making, but these were few and far between. Either way, he'd be rich, and either way, his head would hurt, whether it was from the complicated math used to construct the core of a new world, or from getting bashed by Atsarute for doing stupid things, which saved his life more than once.

"I don't know what to do now," he grumbled to himself, "I can't go after Suraku in that state, nor can I help him. And I don't know why Atsarute left that weird message for us in the tree instead of waiting for us and explaining it, or why Atsarute is with the Pasuko-jin and those strange aliens with them…" He leaned back, sinking his teeth into another piece of bark. "It must be a plan. There's always a plan."

* * *

And it's so easy when you're evil! This chapter's shorter than what I've been doing lately, but they've still been getting longer and longer.  
Kocyp is just "Pocky" mixed up. 


	17. The Face without the Mask

Disclaimer: Chapter two. (#4p+32 +0  
Speaking of **_FAST_** updates…!

* * *

That night, those who could see the walking fiend saw that it was now not only calmer, but also amicable. And they finally got to see something else: Atsarute's face. 

It removed the wrappings from around its head, and revealed a creature with long hair, black streaked with silver, thin eyebrows, and an effeminate face with sea-foam scales that shined silver when the light hit its cheek. The eyes were still bloodshot from the damage given to it earlier, and normally obscured by the shadow of its own hair, and the iris looked to still be in a state of repair, being mostly gray with splashes of color around it. Its elf-like ears peaked slightly from its hair, but they were not nearly as tall as a Namek's.

Kuririn blinked several times. It wasn't missing skin or muscle or anything, nothing like the figure that chased him in the cracks of that canyon, but he remembered what Arufuredo said earlier about this. _'They speculated that night allowed some sort of sorcery associated with the death to restore a living face.'_

Bulma, eyes still wide and on the fiend, leaned over towards Chi-chi. "I didn't imagine that such an evil guy would be so handsome, did you?"

Atsarute gestured at Suraku, who had stayed and not taken his eyes off his general, and said, in as raspy a tone as before, "_Same…off…_"

Suraku hesitated for a moment, confused about what kind of order he was given, but he realized that it meant his helmet was to be removed, and he did per ordered. The man under it was a young Namekku-sei-jin, who looked like he'd just plunged into his adult years not long ago, bright eyed and perplexed.

All of the Earthlings were doing the tennis-ball eyes between the two unmasked figures. Not only did Atsarute look nothing like they expected, but the man who just attacked them that day was another Namek! Even Piccolo's eyes were wide in amazement. He saw other Nameks since he came to this universe, but he didn't expect to meet one like this.

"Atsarute-sama," Suraku said, "I was worried that your face would be scarred since your voice seemed so… harsh. Why does your throat sound so scratched?"

Arufuredo was about to explain to Suraku how Atsarute looked in the day, but the fiend spoke first. "_Visudda…_"

"Vi-su-da?" Suraku tried to sound it out, "What does that mean?"

Everyone looked at the scientist in the room, who shrugged. "I don't know everything."

"Visudda is the word for the throat chakra," Piccolo finally spoke for the first time in several hours, as he was not willing to speak to or about Suraku. He turned a moment to glance behind him (he was once again leaning upon the cell), as if to check if he could see anything, and he did not. "It's associated with conveying Truth, connection with all existence, and a bunch of other spiritual things that you Humans like to talk about in your religions."

"Is that what you mean, Atsarute-sama?" Suraku came closer to it. "A throat chakra?"

It nodded, pointed to its own throat, then to Piccolo's. "_Understand now… Visudda… not trachea…_"

"So," Arufuredo's face conveyed that he just made a discovery, "When you were slashing through people's throats… you were really after that 'chakra'? Why?"

It reached for the paper and pen provided to it so that it may communicate more effectively, but whilst it wrote, it grew tired, and soon fell asleep upon it instead of showing the others.

Suraku raised a brow. "Sleeping again already?"

Arufuredo nodded. "It does that. Sir, I feel the need to explain to you the events up till now… but you will not enjoy what you hear…"

.-.

The scientists had a busy day, as usual, rushing around the ship, performing experiments in the lab, and so on.

Bulma and Chi-chi were walking around leisurely down one of the few windowed hallways of the ship, talking about the turn of events.

"He is quite handsome," Chi-chi said, "and he looks very worldly. I bet that he has a hundred wives and concubines back at his palace."

"You think so?"

"Definitely! I mean, a guy like him being so high in power like that, I bet the women have no problem serving for him."

"Hmm… but remember when Arufuredo said that he didn't allow his men to ravage the women in the cities that they pillaged?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"I'm thinking that maybe he has a high respect for women. Maybe the whole culture does. Arufuredo never explained what the Puroeriun were like. I didn't even know how they looked until he took off the wrappings."

Just as they were about to pass the kitchen door, it slid open and a Vegita with his arms full of different foodstuffs walked out just in time to hear the last bit of what they said. "Who are you talking about?"

"General Atsarute. We were just commenting on his good looks," Bulma smirked, "Not to make you jealous."

Vegita chuckled. "Yeah… he's pretty all right…"

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"That theoretical 'gaydar' that you women are supposed to have needs repair, Bulma. Hell, I don't think that it ever worked for you. I remember when you had the hots for Zarbon…"

"So what if I did think he was cute?"

"The guy was a tropical fruit! You'd think that the pastel-purple legwarmers and tiara would tip you off, or at least the overuse of mascara…"

"And you can just assume the same has to do with Atsarute?"

"I'll bet you the food in my hand that he has breasts under that humongous mantle that he's always wearing, whether from hormones or implants."

"Vegita! Really!" Bulma huffed. She didn't notice Arufuredo, carrying a mound of books, coming up beside her.

"Oh, Bulma-san!" He said, resituating himself so that he wouldn't drop the books as he stopped. "I've just isolated something about the skin cells! I analyzed what the note Atsarute wrote last night said, and I discovered—oh, am I interrupting something?"

"Oh, no. We weren't talking about anything important." She turned fully away from her husband. He scowled and continued walking. Chi-chi, giggling, left in the other direction.

"Wonderful. You see, it has to do with the changes from night to day…"

.-.

Piccolo did not sleep well the night before. If it wasn't Suraku knocking on his door to ask stupid questions like "Are you asleep?" and "Mind if I speak with you?" (And didn't even say anything outside of that. Piccolo would tell that he had something on his mind, but couldn't say what", it was his father and Kami fighting, and if it wasn't that, it was the weird dreams. He once again saw Jin in the wedding dress, this time like the second dream, where she looked as if she was skinned alive. He entered the observation room. The lights were off, and the window on the other side was opened to allow natural light to come in. He poured himself a glass of water from a pitcher in the corner. _If it's not one thing, it's another…_

He sat on the sofa before the cell and, for once, heard something from within it. Something rustled around, and he saw a dark figure in the shadows of it move around.

"Heh. Now I'll have a fighting chance if you do escape. I don't care if you weren't as pissy last night. You're probably trying to get everyone's guard down so that you can strike." He grinned and drank some from the glass, then recollected on the dream. _Damn, I don't understand what it's supposed to mean… if Jin is that decrepit queen, what does the lack of skin symbolize? And what does Jin have to do with the cure? Father's not willing to reveal any more than those obscure ramblings…_

"What does this all mean?" He said out loud.

The figure moved. "_Meaning…_" It mumbled.

Piccolo looked puzzled at its response. "Yes… meaning to a dream about a friend of mine."

"_Friend…?_"

"You know what those are, right? This one's name was Jin…" Then an idea came to him. "Do you know if Komugiko-joou went to Earth? As Jin?"

"_Jin…_" It shifted around some more. "_Uwaki…_"

He jumped in his seat. "H-how did you know that name?"

It moved up closer then rose it's face up into the daylight.

"You see," Arufuredo continued, "It has to do with the Talisman of Eiaa, which I mentioned that Atsarute stole just before death, the thing that allowed us to track Atsarute down. Among its powers is its unique ability to appear invisible under UV radiation, making it invisible in the daytime. Atsarute was using it to remove some sort of curse placed by a general that was defeated several years ago by the Puroeriun army, but when we interrupted the spell, Atsarute's only hope to not become annihilated was to absorb the talisman, thus gaining its power.

.-.

Bulma seemed rather flabbergasted by the story so far, but urged him to continue anyway.

"You see, when Atsarute-sama absorbed it, it lodged into the throat, not allowing much speech, and the energy that it emitted went through the skin, making the skin disappear at day. I found this from the dead skin cells, which were fading because they were separated from the talisman. The UV radiation also was able to go through and irritate the muscle, making Atsarute dislike being touched by sunlight."

"So… he isn't dead after all?"

"Not at all. Just injured. By the way, you just reminded me something that I've been meaning to ask…"

"Go ahead."

"I've become aware of most of your language's idioms, but the one that I've not run into is the separate pronoun use you've done for Atsarute. Are all military figures spoken of in the male form, or is it something else?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it's confused me several times, but you call Atsarute 'he'."

"So?"

"You do know that Atsarute is a woman, right?"

Before she could answer, a terrified scream of a man rung through the halls. "What was that?"

"I don't know," Arufuredo dropped his books and began running towards it, "but it came from the observation chamber!"

.-.

Everyone poured into the observation room as quickly as possible to see what happened. There, Piccolo stood on the opposite side from the cell, holding his mouth and his eyes wide with his pupils contracted.

Questions sprung up everywhere, asking about what happened, which snapped him out of his shock. He lowered his hand slowly and lowered his head, realizing how horrified he just let himself act. He'd lost face, but he knew that was the least of his worries. "I saw its face…"

Kuririn understood what that meant immediately, and tried to provide comfort. "I know! He's hideous during the day. Being a bit scared about it is nothing to be…"

"That's not it!" He yelled. "That thing… That thing is Jin!"

* * *

Okay… everyone who knew it gets a candy…  
...which is a fancy way of saying "More candy for me." XD 


	18. Antidote from Consciousness

Disclaimer: Chapter two. .owt retpahC

Now that's a reaction. You know that you're doing something right when a reviewer tries to strangle you to death while complimenting the plot twist. –Pulls candy out of hair- Good thing that I didn't say anything about cake…  
And a little side note, Suraku was mentioned in those song fics that I wrote a while ago, when he was younger. You can check and see for yourself. In fact, it might not be a bad idea to look, since there are some things being talked of in it.

* * *

Piccolo sat down in the chair nearest to him (farthest from Atsarute) and sat down in a graceless motion before leaning over and putting his face in his hands, growling in the continually increasing frustration and perplexity of his situation. Chi-chi approached with an uncomfortable look on her face, unsure of what to say. Everyone else looked at each other in confusion. 

"I think I was better off thinking that haggard woman Komugiko was Jin…" Piccolo grumbled into his palms.

"Who is Jin?" Videl finally asked, turning to Gohan, expecting him to know.

He turned his eyes up in thought. "I remember hearing my mom say that name a few times before when speaking to Bulma-san."

Bulma blinked. "I think I might have heard the name from her…"

Piccolo groaned. "Great. You had to tell Bulma, didn't you?"

Chi-Chi laughed nervously. "I guess it slipped out as gossip."

"Fuck…"

"I remember now!" Bulma snapped her fingers. "Chi-chi said that Jin was Piccolo's girlfriend!"

There was a pause, and then Vegita proceeded to laugh his ass off. "Heh heh… I knew that the dead guy had to be gay, but I never expected it to be with the Namek!"

"Vegita!" Bulma walked over and grabbed him by the hair, causing him to wince. "Dr. Arufuredo just told me that Atsarute is a woman."

"Eh?" All of the Earthlings shifted their eyes to the doctor. Piccolo was the first to rise and question him. "Why didn't you say so earlier!"

He coughed, trying to look cool as a bead of sweat came down his temple. "I neglected to tell you about General Atsarute earlier, since I thought Rabiori would've explained it to you. I'm sorry that I didn't correct you earlier, but I assumed that referring to her in male pronoun use might have been a cultural idiom."

"But why didn't you ever even speak of her being female! You never used a 'female pronoun'!"

"I used the neuter pronoun, since that is the proper way to speak of a corpse… but since she's alive, there's no reason to use it now."

Piccolo looked rather overcome, and returned to the couch. He peered into the cell to see Atsarute, sleeping once again, with a piece of paper, scribbled all over it, nearby. Arufuredo saw it as well and left the room, reappearing behind the class. He bent down and picked up the paper. "It seems to be instructions for a formula of some sort," he said, studying the paper with his eyes, "It's very complicated… I see. It's a drug to enhance cognitive processes. It says, 'Do as the instructions say and finish it by tonight.' I'll get to work on it." He disappeared out of the cell again, probably to the lab.

Suraku, who had been standing to the side this whole time, still had a confused look on his face, apparently afraid to ask anything, but walked over by Piccolo anyway. "So… you're Dorai _and_ Piccolo?"

Piccolo blinked and looked over to the other Namekku-sei-jin. "Y-yes… Did she speak of me or something?"

He nodded. "But she said that you died. Twice."

"I did die. Twice."

A brow rose. "How did you manage that?"

"You're a Namek and you don't know about Dragonballs?"

"**_What!_** That's a lie! If you had been wished back by the Dragonballs, I would have heard of it! My grandfather holds the 1 star, and he doesn't let it go easily."

Piccolo looked at him quizzically. "Who is your grandfather?"

"Katatsu, of course!" He noticed that Piccolo didn't have any response to the name. "Don't tell me that you don't know who Katatsu is… Founder and King of Katatsu-sei?"

Piccolo shook his head.

"You're kidding."

"No."

Kuririn turned to Gohan. "You remember that name too, right?"

"Hmm? No. Should I?"

"Remember! Saichourou(**a/n**) told us about him!"

"Eh! I remember now!" He ran over to his teacher. "Piccolo-san! Katatsu is you're relative, too!"

"Huh?"

"What! Oh god, you can't be _that_ Piccolo as well." Suraku leaned back. "Grandfather's first son was named Piccolo, but he had to leave Namekku-sei earlier than everyone else because he was supposed to get to a natural planet called Earth to start the colony ahead of us…but they lost contact not long after he entered the Red Stream."

Bulma tilted her head. "Why would he have to enter the Red Stream? Wasn't Namekku-sei on the same side of it as Earth?"

"Huh? You people really don't know all of this? Namekku-sei was on this side of the Red Stream before the disaster, which was the planets migration to, and through, the stream. He was to set up a colony on Earth since it was thought that the planet would already be on the other side before anyone could leave, but since they thought that he didn't make it, they instead left as soon as possible, then grandfather found an asteroid and we colonized that. After some manipulation to it by a planet maker to make it stronger and more habitable, it was called 'Katatsu-sei'."

Piccolo sighed and looked at the youth through the sides of his eyes. "Well, I'd bet that you'd like to know that he made it to Earth, just as planed, but forgot everything about Namekku-sei, as well as himself, when he got there."

"Grandfather was right, I guess. Piccolo really was still alive… and so is Piccolo's son."

"What do you mean? _I_ am Piccolo."

"You can't be. You're too young. And besides, Piccolo was said to have left with an egg that was created with his wife, Mollosuki…"

Piccolo stared at him strangely. "So now you're telling me that I have a mother? How the hell could the first Piccolo have procreated like that! Do you have any idea how young he was when he reached Earth!"

"But you said that he lost his memories, right?"

"…Yeah."

"It's not uncommon for people's bodies to revert back to childhood if they lose memories, as well as it's not uncommon for some children to age towards prime adulthood quickly if they're exceptionally intelligent, for one reason or another."

_That would explain why it only took three years to grow up,_ Piccolo thought. There were still many other questions in his head, like about his "brothers" Tambourine and the other demons spawned by his father, but he doubted that Suraku knew any of this.

As fascinating as this whole thing was, many of the others began to dissipate, since this was all very mind-blowing. Vegita snickered as he and Bulma left together.

"Don't say it," Bulma warned.

"Nothing to worry about. I know that you're not a lesbian. Our nights are proof enough of that…I just thought that you'd like to know that I wouldn't mind if you brought in another broad as well… even Kakarotto's wife wouldn't be—"

He forgot how hard she could hit with the cybernetic device that she installed in her watch.

.-.

By night, Arufuredo had finished the solutions that Atsarute had requested. He brought out with him two flasks, one with more liquid and of a slightly different color than the other, and, as Atsarute suggested, allowed her to leave the cell. Piccolo kept his back against his wall, trying not to look at her even though artificial light was all that was on her. He wasn't reluctant to see her because of the skinless appearance during the day, but because of fear that their eyes might lock in an awkward moment.

"Atsarute-sama," the doctor asked, "Do you mind if I ask why one has more solution, and why you wanted that particular muscle relaxant mixed with it?

Instead of trying to communicate why, she picked up the flask with more liquid and swallowed the solution, and then she gasped for air suddenly. She breathed a few times through her mouth before answering, in a voice that was, even though it was still hoarse, was definitely a woman's, "This one was for me, and I'm going to need more than Piccolo for what I'm going to do. The muscle relaxant is to allow myself to be able to speak."

Piccolo's eyes shot towards her as soon as he heard her voice. He recognized it immediately. "You really are…"

She approached him with the other flask. "Here. Drink this one. You'll need it, too."

"Why?"

She grinned. "You want to be cured of the mania, right?"

"Yeah… what does this have to do with it? Is this the cure?"

"No, this will just allow you to do your job more easily. You see, we have to help each other, or both suffer the consequences." She leaned on the wall beside him. "A while ago, a general of an opposing army cursed me in his death, and while I was destroying the cadavers of the enemy in the battlegrounds, I was suddenly distracted by something, allowing the curse to infiltrate my spiritual defense. I also absorbed some of his blood through one of my wounds when I destroyed his body, sealing it. The thing that distracted me was… well… I could be wrong, but I thought that I saw you're death. You were killed on a battlefield, and that boy, Gohan, was much younger…"

"So that was you that I saw," Piccolo said, "I thought that I saw you standing above me when I died."

"But… how is it—"

"I'll explain that later. Please continue."

She nodded. "I thought that I saw you die again later, while I was preparing to lift the curse, and I did not see some Pasuko-jin approach and send a surge through the talisman that I was using, the Talisman of Eiaa, and I had to absorb it to keep from getting killed. Unfortunately, it attached to my Visudda, disrupting my energy connections, which made me succumb more to the curse, and it cannot be removed surgically without killing me."

"So where do I come in?"

"Well, before, you and your friends were just the 'catalysts' of my curse, which meant that your presence was helpful for repairing my energy connections. But, in different matters, you're the only one that can disconnect the talisman." She removed her mantle and a few straps around her neck to show what looked like a disk jammed just above her collarbone. "This is because you're spirit is actually trapped in your Visudda, for some reason, and it can pass into one's Visudda without complications."

Piccolo remembered something that his father said to him. _'I didn't spontaneously create you. You were, more or less, all ready there. I merely locked away your true spirit somewhere in your mind and replaced it with my own.'_ "I see."

"I will first go into your mind to free it. With that, you can go into my Visudda and disconnect the talisman. After that, there should be enough time for me to disjoin the spirits in your mind and help you turn into separate beings again. That's the only cure for the mania. How many are there, counting you?"

"Four. Three if you count Kami-sama and my father as one."

"Eh? May I see them?"

"How?"

Before he could say anything else, she placed her hand upon his cheek, some fingers against his temple, her thumb against his forehead. After a few moments, she lowered her hand. "I'll have to combine them back into one entity again."

**_WHAT!_** Piccolo heard a scream in his head. _I DID _NOT_ DO ALL OF THIS WORK JUST TO BE COMBINED WITH THAT GOODY-GOODY ASS AGAIN! SHE'S JUST PISSED BECAUSE I ORDERED HER AROUND A BIT WHILE SHE WAS IN THAT STATE!_

Piccolo rolled his eyes and quickly swallowed the solution himself. "Lets get to work, then."

* * *

(**a/n**) Saichourou is the Japanese name for Guru. I believe that it means something along the lines of "Great Elder".  
I haven't said earlier, but "Atsarute" is a Japanese adaptation I made from "Astarte".  
I'm not so low taste to make the cure sex! Sure, I had two psuedo-rape scenes already, and the Mebana story will probably allude to it, but geez! Besides, what would the throat chakra have to do with sex anyway?  
… Pretend that I didn't ask that. 


	19. Hazy Junctures

Disclaimer: I don't even know anymore. Please go to chapter two. If it's not there, please go to chapter one. If it's not there either, please smack your forehead repeatedly with a board.

I thought about getting an art class here in college, but the more I hear of the art majors, the more I think otherwise. People, photography isn't an amazing art. Out of most of the visual media, photography is one that takes the least amount of talent and skill to make something decent. Now, I _do_ know skilled and talented photographers, but _please_, when you only use good equipment, colors, and natural light... And "foreshortening" is a stupid word and shouldn't even be used in photography in most cases. And photo manipulation? That's even _less_ skill sometimes. You can have a crappy picture, put it through a filter on Adobe or PSP, and viola!  
I'm mostly just bitter because the wankers rejected my drawing of a Chinese emperor for being "cartoony" over a series of stupid photographs of monkeys and children.

* * *

Piccolo was surprised how fast the situation suddenly changed. Just that morning he was still in frustration over his "cure", still suffering and unable to do anything about it. Now, the cure was already in full-throttle to cure him, providing that he only help it out a little. 

He and Atsarute exited from the ship into the night air of the swampy planet. The area was cracking and humming with insects and animals, making it seem louder since neither was saying a word to each other. The others were bid to remain in the ship, as to not disturb the process, but they crowded around windows to watch.

Atsarute lead him towards a marsh with many overhanging trees and glowing bugs phasing in and out of view as they floated about the dark air. She sat down, in a normal cross-legged pose, and motioned him to do the same. For a while, they sat in silence, trying to make sure that they were ready, before Piccolo finally spoke:

"Am I going to be able to navigate through your mind like that?"

She looked up from the ground to him. "You should be able to. It's been a while, but you did spend a year with me. You should know how some of my mind works. After all… it's not like your mind works too differently, eh?"

He grinned and nodded. "I guess you have to start off, since you have to free my spirit first?"

"We have to lock in first," she said. Before he could ask what she meant by that, her eyes met straight with his with a serious, penetrating gaze, and he instantly knew what to do. After a while, his vision got darker and darker as he sat, unblinking, and found himself in a hallway that he had never seen before.

.-.

Atsarute had been trying to calculate and move through Piccolo's mind as quickly as she could, but she found herself getting delayed. Many doors would suddenly open and close as she went down the hall, and curiosity gripped her several times to look within the ones that flung open just as she passed. Every once in a while, she'll see something that she recognized from her visit to Earth, including a representation of the Red Stave Pub. Each time, she reluctantly had to pull herself away from such rooms. She had more important things to do.

The direction and path to the Visudda wasn't a straight line, but she didn't take any wrong turns along the way. Ignoring several obstacles, she tried to make up lost time by hurrying, but it hardly seemed to help. After what felt like hours, she finally came to a door where the energy seemed to radiate best. The door was barred and barricaded with hinges that long ago wore out from the constant pressure of the spirit trying to escape on its own. She tore at the chains and the boards, ripping out tusk-like bars. When it was down to the last defense, the spirit burst out on its own, passing through her at such a speed that she flew backwards several hundred "meters". Just as she landed, and cursed the speed of the passing entity, another door flew open beside her. She shot her eyes towards it, and stood. It didn't look very familiar; in fact, it looked odd for something Piccolo could have in his mind. It was a large room covered with white linens and pastel colors, the scent of flowers and perfume wafting from it.

This time she couldn't hold back her curiosity. "It'll be a while before he finishes his part of the job, anyway."

.-.

Piccolo had loitered the past several hours in one of Atsarute's own rooms. It wasn't one that he had recognized, nor was it an amazing sight. It wasn't even a "room", per say, but a vast expansion of land, cold, dark, and devoid of life. There were several stones with writing on the ground, writing that he could not read. From the looks of them, the area seemed to be a graveyard. _Figures that she would have a place like this…_

A sudden surge went through him, like his energy had just converted itself to something else. _Some sort of transition… She must have freed my 'real' spirit… _He rose from the stone that he had been sitting on and left through the rectangle of light that represented the door back to the main hallway.

Piccolo blinked when he realized something: he knew exactly how to get to her Visudda in under five minutes, how to maneuver within the Visudda, and how to detach the talisman from it. He was fairly certain that he knew none of this before, but instead of pondering any longer, hurried to the right door and bolted in.

The room was strange; really nothing more than churning clouds of energy that almost resembled furniture and other objects. Pots with light poring out of their mouths lined the incessantly moving walls, and the floor itself morphed upon its own accord under his feet. When he continued to move forward, he was surprised that he didn't just fall through the ground.

He came up to a gigantic solid object sticking out of the wall. It was a black jewel that was at least twice his size, mounted to some sort of green, metal setting. It radiated an energy that attached itself to the energy of the room. He approached slowly and reached out to the energy permeating from it, trying to sever it from the walls.

.-.

As soon as Atsarute entered the room, her black wraps were replaced with something else. She looked down at her new apparel for a while until she recognized it as an Earth dress for wedding ceremonies. "Strange…" she muttered.

She walked past a mirror, and raised a brow. Her eyes slowly went towards it again, then approached, bewildered. She could not see her own reflection. Tapping on the glass, looking behind it, and moving around revealed nothing to her until she inspected what image the mirror represented. The floor, although clean upon her side, was littered with various objects sprawled across the carpet. The bed's covers were disturbed, and showed blood-colored satin under the frilly cloths that were, in her world, undisturbed. The covered dresser was revealed, showing skulls and weapons, with a drawer that was flung open, and the wall's linens had fallen, showing a fresco of a massacre.

Taking a step backwards, she turned to see if these things were real again, this time walking up to these disturbed places and moving the covers to see what would lay under them. Just as in the mirror, there were weapons on the wall, paintings of carnage, skulls and bones, and bold colors under the dusty, bright ones. She looked back at a mirror then saw what looked like a person that was otherwise hidden by the angles from which she observed the reflection previously. It was a woman, and as she looked closer, she could tell that she wore the same dress as her, but it was torn in several places, and she bled through cuts and bruised bite marks. She was stuck straight on a large ax, and the blood running down it revealed that she must have died from it. "That's me… but why—"

A large hand came down upon her shoulder. She gasped and whirled around to see… _Piccolo? No, he doesn't look the same…_

"You'd better get out of here," said Neil, "I have no idea how Piccolo would react if he saw you in here, but I doubt it would be pretty." He lead her back out of the room, her apparel returning to normal as soon as she stepped foot into the hallway.

"Is he finished? Already?" She said.

"Almost. He'll be here soon. You should get ready to help us separate. Come on, I'll lead you to the others."

.-.

Nobody stayed up long enough to see the whole thing take place. As far as they could tell, the two were just staring at each other with stern eyes. The Son family (and Videl) ended up falling asleep in the main room nearby the window, whereas the scientists went back to their own rooms, and Vegita and Bulma to theirs. Suraku, as much as he wanted to stay and watch over his general, decided it best to leave back to speak with Jakkaru at the branch office.

Dawn broke, and the light hazed in to pierce at the sleeping party's closed lids, making several of them stir before Goku got up ahead the others and peered out to the marsh in the distance, trying to find Piccolo and Atsarute. The general seemed to have been hunched over the edge of the marsh's bank, but Piccolo was nowhere in sight.

It wasn't long before the whole room was alerted of his disappearance, and they all rushed out, wearily as it was, towards the woman. She slowly looked over to them with groggy eyes and made a tired grin. "It's finished," she rasped out, "Don't bother them. They're resting." When the group seemed confused by "they", she motioned towards three different trees, each one with an unconscious Namekku-sei-jin under the dark canopy.

Without warning, she covered her mouth and began to cough violently, each heave racking through her body and making blood splatter upon her hand and trickle down her arm. When it was over, she sighed, and pulled her hand from her with a grin, revealing an object within the small pool of blood she held that was no doubt the Talisman of Eiaa.

"I need… sleep as well… The water should be pleasing…" With this, she let herself fall forward into the swamp lake, fainted before she even hit the surface. The water had an undercurrent of its own, as it slowly dragged her away from the bank while the morning light streamed through the roof of leaves to settle in bright splotches across her body.

* * *

She's not dead, squire; she's just restin'. She might be pining for the fjords, too, but I seriously doubt it. 


	20. Daimyo Daimajoou

Disclaimer: Chapter 2.

Ok, people. I'm typing this out on my father's laptop since I left my PC back at the dorm room for spring break. Spring break is, for me, lots of sleeping and petting the nine pet cats.

* * *

Neil was the first to regain consciousness, but he didn't stir for the longest while, waiting for Piccolo to pick up the body, but the delay made him realize that he was alone in the body, in his own body, and his eyes shot open and he jumped up to standing immediately. 

The others had long left the inner ship to watch whatever might be happening now outside. The waters dragged Atsarute off into the more heavily forested area, and everyone was afraid to go after her when they heard the approach of what sounded like an army's march, so they stayed by the Namekku-sei-jin, but continued to keep their distance. When Neil sprung up, the first to run to him was Kuririn and Gohan, however, when they came within two meters of him, stopped and only stared at him, unsure of whether to say anything or not.

Neil looked at them and grinned. "It's been a while since we've met like this, eh?" He looked down at himself. The clothes were like how he always dressed back at Namekku-sei, but it did feel different. He felt as if he was much stronger than he was before by himself, so much that he was sure that if he were like this when he fought Freeza, he would not only have won in any of his forms, but he could have taken Goku as a Super Saiya-jin out as well if so inclined.

"Heh… It seems as though I came out with some advantages."

.-.

"Atsarute-sama!"

"Atsarute-sama! Can you hear me?"

"Wake up, Atsarute-sama!"

A groan came from her, and she slowly pulled her face out of the water and flung her wet hair out of her eyes. Atsarute looked up into the blinding daylight and saw several figures. She brought her hand above her brow and peered to them. "Jakkaru, Suraku, everyone," She said with a raspy voice, squinting at the figures. "It's hard enough to see in the light without this infliction."

Several sighs of relief came from her army. Jakkaru and Suraku came closer to her. "How are you, Atsarute-sama? Are you wounded?" Jakkaru spoke.

She stood straight and stretched. "Besides the eyes and the throat, I'm tired, sore, and generally under the weather." She looked down at her soaked rags a moment. "I must have been out for an hour or so."

"There's a healer here, Atsarute-sama," Suraku said, bending down with Jakkaru to help her out of the marsh. "And we have a trunk of your clothes if you wish to change."

"It seems as though you thought of everything. I am quite tired of dressing like mother." The general began to unravel the black strips from her body. "Has there been many troubles since I've been absent?"

"A few, mostly doing with the soldiers' uneasiness without your strength," Jakkaru said, grinning at Suraku, "Some of them have been acting quite unlike themselves. I've had to take up the role as the responsible one."

She laughed a bit, "I thought you were acting a little pompous, Suraku."

.-.

Piccolo regained consciousness next, but chose not to stir. It was so long since he had a good rest, and those old men and that nagging Neil was no longer trying on his nerves. He could hear him talking to Gohan and Kuririn several meters away, and the reassurance that he was finally outside of him made him feel even more comfortable, even though he was leaning against the rough bark of a tree.

A major influx of energy rose in the direction of the army's noises. It stopped every conversation and had each face shoot in that direction, including Piccolo's. He went running towards it, making his student and a few of his friends follow him a while, calling after him before uncertainty gripped them to not continue.

When Piccolo disappeared into the trees, Goku peered out through the canopies. "Suge! That energy is really powerful! Do you think its Atsarute?"

Gohan nodded. "I don't see why else Piccolo-san would run like that."

"Piccolo seems to have gotten faster than before… He must have improved after getting split as well."

"That leaves…" Kuririn looked back at the last Namekku-sei-jin that still slept under the tree. "..Whoever _that_ is."

"Piccolo Daimaou and Kami-sama," Goku muttered, "I guess that is hid original form…" He tried to peer past the shadows covering the Namek. "But he looks much… younger than I remember _either_ of them being, even after Piccolo wished for youth."

.-.

Several soldiers surrounded Piccolo the moment he exited the trees, but Suraku asked them to stand down as soon as he heard the commotion.

"Who is this man, Suraku?" Jakkaru said as he lowered his sword.

"I… I guess he's my cousin, another of Katatsu's descendants."

"Hmm… I thought that I knew Katatsu's entire lineage…"

Suraku groaned and rubbed a hand over his bald head. "So did I…"

"Where is Atsarute?" Piccolo said, searching around the huge ki of the soldiers for Atsarute's, like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"She was healed and has taken position to survey the army from above."

"Above?"

Jakkaru casually pointed behind him to a cliff with a red fluttering cloth at the apex.

Instead of flying up, Piccolo found a way to walk up to the cliff, and as he came closer, he saw that the cloth was a cape. The wind at this altitude was rather powerful, blowing Atsarute's hair and clothes back behind her like a flag in a windstorm. She noticed his approach and turned fully around to him. She wore detailed armor, decorated with fluting instead of useless engravings, adorned with skulls and spikes sticking out menacingly, including two huge horns upon her shoulders working as the mantle to her cape. Even her face looked different: there were peaking upwards from the ends of her eyebrows and slitting from the back of her neck towards her throat, and her eyes, now repaired, had the color of cherry wood.

"It seems that we still have a lot in common." He smirked a bit.

"What do you mean?"

"It's sort of a… trademark with me, I guess," he walked up right beside her, "To stand on cliffs like this, peering out ahead of me, with my cape fluttering behind. Usually for some sort of reason, like meditation or looking over the battlefield, but sometimes it's just preferable to—"

"—Social Interaction?" She finished for him. "I guess we do still have a lot of similarities, but we do need to catch up… for instance…" She pulled out a dagger and held the blade up at the sun a moment, examining the edge. "You said that you died and came back. Infact, Suraku informed me that you said you used the Dragonballs to be brought back to life—" She forced the knife back into its sheath. "—Twice."

"I told you that I'd explain it to you, and I will. And you've got a few things that I'd like to ask questions to. I have a lot of questions about your army, your family, and a lot of other things that you might think of as prying into your life."

"I have several of those kinds of questions as well, Piccolo. We'll have to talk this over at dinner. I told the guys that I was going to throw a banquet since they wanted to celebrate my return so badly. You should bring your friends. Those guys with the spiky hair seem to have huge appetites for Humans."

"They're not Humans, actually… well, one of them is half human…"

"Then that's _another_ thing that I'm going to have you explain to me."

.-.

The remaining Namekku-sei-jin woke leisurely, grinning and stretching, acting as if he was simply enjoying the mere ability to breathe. No one approached him, but he came up to Goku by his own accord. "Son Goku! Do you know how long it's been since I've been like this?"

Goku only laughed, unsure of what to say.

"You seem bewildered, boy! I guess that I should be getting used to that again. After all, I'm back to how I was before, but this time with the youth of my son and the memories that I had lost on the way to Earth." He seemed just glowing with delight. "And I'm just as strong as I was supposed to have been: The strongest and most intelligent man on the planet. At least, that's how things were back on Namekku-sei. That's why father gave me such an unusual name: Piccolo, because I had to have certainly come from another plain of existence to be like this." He laughed heartily along with his bragging. "I guess that's to be expected, being born in a genius Warrior class."

Goku grasped something among this rambling. "So, you're name… is Piccolo?"

"Yes! Piccolo of the Katatsu family, and since I'm the eldest, heir to his legacy!" He tapped his chin in thought for a moment. "Which I guess would be the rule of all Namekku-sei-jin, now. That's sort of how it was going before, since I married into the other family as well…"

"So… you're name is really Piccolo, too…" Goku repeated, trying to figure out how he was going to keep all of these different Piccolos separate.

Piccolo raised a brow. "You never were particularly bright, Goku."

"I was just thinking… you're Kami-sama and Piccolo Daimaou in one, right?"

"Yes…"

"And you're name is Piccolo."

"Yes…"

"And the other Piccolo with the cape and turban is… also Piccolo…"

"Are you coming to a personal discovery, or something, Son? Yes, his name is Piccolo as well, and he is my son. Is there something that you don't understand?"

Goku scratched his head. "Uhh… I guess not.

"Good. Now, where is Suraku? I'll have to speak with him about Father…"

.-.

Atsarute and Piccolo came down from the cliff together, still talking, trying to catch up with the times. They had several years to cover, so it promised to be a long conversation. Atsarute gave the orders to begin preparation for the banquet and dismissed the warriors. They ran back towards the planet's military base immediately.

As the two spoke and slowly went back towards the ship to tell the others about the celebration, Piccolo turned to her with a question: "And how old are you now in Earth's years? Do you remember the conversion?"

She bowed her head a moment. "Now… I would be… 25 Earth years?"

"25? Really? That would make you 7 years old when we met."

"Heh… That has to do with the royal family of my planet. The second born matures quickly to catch up with their older sibling, especially if there's a large gap between the ages. My brother is still stronger than me from being… 10 years older than me, but I'll keep trying to surpass him. So, how old are you?"

"Well… you know how Namekku-sei-jin age when their… exceptionally intelligent?"

"Is this explanation going to include a lot of bragging?"

* * *

It took me a while to decide what color Atsarute's eyes should be, since I didn't want to make them sound too special, nor did I want to make them black or blue. I kept thinking about something red or brown (gold sounded good, but with some of the other factors, not appropriate). Bah, damn characters and their having to be described. 


	21. Regiment Barbecue

Disclaimer: Chapter two. Yeah, that's pretty dull, I know.  
So, this thing is more than twice as long as MOTS and about half as popular. Thing is that I'm not sure how long this is going to be, but there's a good chance that we're not even to the middle yet. Geez… I can't even think up an ending.

* * *

Piccolo and Atsarute came to the ship just as Arufuredo was assessing a sudden problem. The queen had called unexpectedly and had a million questions that he couldn't think up a reasonable answer for.

"My Empress…" Arufuredo took out a handkerchief and wiped off his sweat, "This situation is very delicate. We really shouldn't even be communicating."

"I can tell from the streams that some of Atsarute's forces are mobilizing nearby your location. They realize that it's there, don't they?"

"Y-yes... I mean, it's impossible to keep such information from them without… eh… without…"

"Doctor! Things aren't adding up! Have you not captured Atsarute yet?"

"Err... no, my Empress… Atsarute is still loose… we're having problems capturing her…"

"And where is the Namekku-sei-jin Piccolo? I'm having trouble pinpointing him. Has something happened to him?"

Arufuredo's face just seemed to say, "Fuck" and he looked around him at the others, mentally begging for some sort of assistance. Atsarute sighed and stepped forward, grabbed him by the collar, and grinned into the view screen. "Good evening, Komugiko. Decrepit as ever, I see."

"Ats-Atsarute! You're—"

"Yes, I'm alive," she said a-matter-of-factly, "And very well now, thank you. I have the Talisman of Eiaa, these unusual beings under my control, and I'm going to massacre all of your men on this ship like I do in every battle I have with your army."

Komugiko gripped the armrests with her thin fingers, a gnarl seizing her mouth. "And where is the Namekku-sei-jin, Piccolo?"

"Hmm… young guy, warrior type, with several personalities, suffering from a rare Namekku-sei-jin mania?" She dropped the panicking doctor, who fell down to the floor with a thud.

"Yes! What did you do to him?"

"Killed him."

"W-what! But… do you realize… he's one of Katatsu's grandchildren!"

"Meh," Atsarute shrugged, "He has too many, anyway. I don't think that he'd care if he lost one that he wasn't even aware that he had. Besides, I think I did him a favor. A quick death is much better than being ripped to pieces from the mania, wouldn't you agree?" Instead of waiting for the shocked queen to answer, she reached over and laid a finger on a button on the view screen. "Sayonara, Komugiko." The picture blinked off.

Arufuredo, still looking somewhat dizzy and overwhelmed, staggered as he pulled himself up, and asked in a feeble voice, "Atsarute-sama… what did you mean by… all that?"

"I was simply messing with her… riling her up and manipulating a bit," she said.

"And… telling her that you killed Piccolo-sama?"

"I wanted to see what she knew about his lineage, since I figured that she'd blurt it out in that situation…" She sat down on the couch. "Plus, I wanted to see what he meant to her—" a light chuckle came from her, "—Got more than I expected."

"B-but… but… she's going to send her own forces over here now that… Atsarute-sama, have you thought this through?"

"Yeah. I figure the army could use a good exercise after the feast."

"'E-exercise'! Atsarute-sama, I realize that the death ratio is always vastly in your favor, but don't you think—"

"'Vastly in my favor'? That's not even _half_ of it. Hell, _there is no death ratio_. I'm used to my side eradicating the enemy and never gaining casualties; there hasn't been a casualty in years. But the fights with the Pasuko-jin are more than one-sided: we hardly get anything other than flesh wounds while we still wipe the opposition out. We get more critical injuries from _training_ than from our battles with you."

The scientist blinked a bit. "I didn't think that we were _that_ bad off…"

She scoffed. "You must have some crazy kind of propaganda and intelligence control in that government."

"That's true," he sighed.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The feast, held at the branch office hall and court, was more than extravagant. There were several tables lined up with delicacies of different types all around the universe, many fine examples of this universe's culinary expertise, and all on short notice. Not everything was edible to the Humans and Saiya-jin, but what they could consume was marked for them with little colored papers sticking out from under the large dishes. The Saiya-jin only needed one glance at these before he began to seize about half of the contents of each dish.

Instead of having things marked for him, Suraku volunteered to show Piccolo what he can and can't eat, but he was more interested in talking with Atsarute about their lives than listening to his recently-found cousin about food. He quickly filled a dish and asked for the strongest drink that wouldn't kill him before bolting to sit down by the general woman. Looking around, Goku was already stuffing his face full of different things while his wife rolled her eyes at his behavior. Jakkaru, by Atsarute's other side, was doing the same thing, hardly chewing before swallowing and shoving another fork of meat into his mouth.

Atsarute laughed a bit before Piccolo nudged at her. "Hmm? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking how good it is to be back."

"You were explaining earlier about how you obtained the army."

"Right. I was telling you about how I got the first soldiers. Most of them I met in travels, and since I normally didn't travel alone because of—"

"Oi!" Jakkaru had risen with a large mug of alcohol in one hand. "I think it's about time we tell Atsa who went crazy since she left, eh?"

A big cheer came from the group. Several people were jumping and clapping all around the party.

He gave a hearty laughed and motioned for them to quiet down a bit. "First off, since we can't give him enough humiliation on it as it is, Suraku here pulled a 'me' and went off looking for her with little basis and only blind determination." In response, the young Namek blushed and lowered his head, finding it more productive to study his soup. "I guess we switched bodies or something, 'cause _I_ stayed back at the base and called you guys together incase a scuffle came up. And before, some of the rookies took a ship and tried to ambush Pasuko-jin vehicles while they crossed the Red Stream, which we all know is _really_ intelligent… if getting the bulkheads ripped off your ship from the strain is the goal. The kiddies are over there trying to hide under the tablecloths if you want a look." He continued to list off several people who made mistakes, little and big, in the anxiety they had without their leader in command, even though she had only disappeared about a year in Earth's time. During this, Atsarute and Piccolo continued their conversation.

"So, everyone in your group has died at least once?" Atsarute said in an intrigued manner.

"Yeah. Like I said, we were all wished back by one of the sets of Dragonballs sooner or later. We have a set on Earth, and there's a set on New Namekku-sei."

"What do you mean by _New_ Namekku-sei?"

The dinner continued rather pleasantly (at least in the terms of this crowd), followed by a "little" training session with the soldiers, eager to get their leader back into fighting frequently. She clashed around for a few hours, but retired early to get a start on forming the strategy for any future battles with the Pasuko-jin forces (since it was now inevitable). The rest of the soldiers barraged around the courtyard like it were the best fun they ever had.

The Z fighters found that they were, on the most part, outclassed by the fighting skill of the soldiers. It was a strange turn of events for them: before, they were able to wipe out entire armies solo, but now, an average soldier was enough to take on several of them. The only real exception to this was Piccolo Sr., who fought several one on one, graduating to fighting against small groups alone, and still came up with the upper hand. His son was the next up, but still had problems with some of the highest ranks. In fact, the highest rank that he was able to beat was his cousin… after several hours of throwing punches.

After the training session with Suraku, a tired Piccolo dropped down to the grass and wiped his forehead. From getting his own spirit "back" and feeling such a great amount of new power, he thought he would be able to beat Atsarute's best, easily, perhaps even Atsarute herself. But he was not able to try arms against her before she left, and Suraku, who was personally trained by Atsarute and still strives to be as strong as her, as he said during the fight, was hard to beat as it was. _If he's _this_ strong, who knows what the trainer could be like… _he thought.

He sensed someone large walk up behind him. A gruff voice followed. "Ah, Piccolo, Suraku explained to me who you are. After we battle the Puroeriun, Atsa might take you to Katatsu-sei if you wish to see your family. I'm sure she would agree to it if you asked her."

Piccolo turned around and saw Jakkaru, the hefty Pasuko-jin that served as her right-hand man. "I don't care," he said.

"I asked your father about it, already. He seems very excited to go. And the other man… Neil was it? He also wants to see more of his people."

"Great…" Piccolo mumbled, then after a slight hesitation, "Why do you call her 'Atsa'?"

"Oh, I've just known her for many years, since she was a child and I was in my teenage years. That was quite a many year ago. She grew up pretty fast."

_No kidding._ "Does she do the same to you?"

"Yeah, she calls me 'Jako' normally. By the way, she told us about what you did, and we're grateful that you were able to bring her back to us. It's not like we can't act without her… she's taken long vacations before and left people in duty… but we were very worried that she might have been killed like the rumors were telling us."

"I guess you would be, having the whole army here to celebrate her coming back."

Jakkaru laughed. "You think that _this_ is the whole army? These are just the guys I thought would be useful if we had a little clash with the Puroeriun here. I know that I might have ordered too strong and too many, but I'm not the one that supplies the strategy here."

"What? How much of the army is this?"

"A small fraction… I'm not good with numbers, but I would guess about 10, if you don't count the brigades and factions stationed elsewhere. And we can get more from allies if need be."

"Damn. And is this the strongest in the army?"

"Not really. We don't have Big Man, Hoard, Barricade, or many of the others here, although I'm sure that they'd be thrilled to hear that Atsa has returned in good health. Actually, I should go contact the rest of the forces now and ask Atsa if she wants me to inform her family back at Pasuko-sei." He went off back into the office.

"Piccolo-san," he heard Gohan coming from another direction. He looked back at him, seeing that he was rather roughed up and still sweating from the training. "Piccolo-san, mind if I talk with you a while? Okaa-san and Videl pushed me off so they can have 'girl talk', Otou-san is still fighting, and I'm too tired to do anything else."

_Our universes are completely different._ "Sure, kid."

* * *

I've decided to go with about 2,000 words for each chapter from now on, so they wont often run over or come shorter unless the story calls for it. Right now, this seems to be the best method, because the story is running a lot like the series at this point in ways of plotline. 


	22. School Mother

**Disclaimer**: Chapter two.

I had a few interesting ideas over the past week, and here's one: I propose that you guys, my readers, tell me, through whatever means (email, AIM, MSN, YIM… _review_ is a really good way too!) **_any_** scene from **_any_** of the GVD series (this includes those songfics in GVD Extras) you would like to see drawn. Once I reach a reasonable number of requests (or I get fed up with waiting) I will post a poll for voting, and the winner gets drawn and posted on the Internet for all to see. If this goes well enough, I might do it monthly, maybe make them into desktop wallpaper… So please, tell your friends (if any read this thing), feel free to write up several of your favorites, and dish out whatever you can.

Now, on to what you're here for.

* * *

The Earth fighters expected to be dragged into the battle between the Puroeriun and the Pasuko-jin, but Atsarute had other plans. She left the mobilized forces with some orders and took a small group along with the Humans (and etc) and loaded them onto a ship, setting course to Katatsu-sei. 

Piccolo seemed like he couldn't care less that he was going to see other of his kind. Once before, he might have found interest, but now, after having to "live" with two other Nameks for such a long time, he found that no concern of his became absorbed by the idea of meeting family members that he never knew he had.

But his father seemed excited enough. "Are we going immediately to the palace?" he asked the general woman, who sat behind the controls, leaning back in her chair and staring at the screen before her.

"No, first I have to speak with the school matron of the girl's school in the capital. You might know her, actually. She was on Namekku-sei ante-clades(**a/n**). Her name is Mollosuki—"

"**_Molly!_**" He screamed, his eyes looking as large and round as a Namek's could be, "What family is she from?"

Atsarute raised a brow towards his unusual response. "Eh… I'm not very good with Namekku-sei-jin politics. She's from the warrior line… the one opposite of Katatsu's…"

"It _is_ my Molly!" Piccolo Sr. brought a hand to his forehead and looked up to the ship's ceiling in his stunned semblance. "I can't believe it! How does she look? Did she remarry?"

"Hmm… for her age, she's well taken care of. She's not young, but she's not old either, at least in looks. And she _did_ remarry… several times… but she has bad luck with husbands. They keep dying. In fact, she was widowed again just last month."

After a moment of silence, several of the people looked over to Piccolo the Younger, leaning against one wall cross-legged.

His eyes narrowed. "What?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

After Atsarute assured them that Mollosuki wasn't a "black widow", Piccolo Sr. began to tell his uninterested son about her. The biography lasted at least a good hour or two.

"Molly's a nice woman, but by no means was she weak. She's almost an ideal with her beauty and her abilities. It's been so long… I've missed her, even though I couldn't remember her. I believe that's why I was attracted to Mebana like I was. She was so much like her… even her name is similar. Such strong women…" He finally trailed off in a sigh and sat in a sad silence for a while. "If Molly has taken up a habit of killing her men, I believe I would risk it, and resign to deserve it even."

The son rolled his eyes, but couldn't help but to glance at Atsarute while Sr. was speaking from time to time. She seemed like she was recovering from such an overwhelming experience and needed time to recap the events. But her senses weren't dull as a result; he knew that she was aware his eyes.

All of the Puroeriun from Arufuredo's command had relinquished their queen without a second thought and were accompanying the enemy general along with the Human group. Most of them were busy examining the ship together, something much more advanced and sleeker in design than anything that they had. Arufuredo himself was seen jutting around various places in the ship, acting like a poor, peasant artist who just walked into the Louvre, completely still when something catches his eye for several minutes, then zooming off to the next thing.

As for most of the fighters, Atsarute's ships were almost always equipped with a training hold, so most of them were off in the protected rooms, training with each other. Goku and Vegita would hardly appear outside of sleep and food, and Gohan, although training as well, spent more time with Videl (he almost seemed forced to, since his mother was now pestering him to talk to her instead of reading a book or some sort of scholarly pursuit like that). Kuririn seemed to have taken a sudden interest in reading novels of all sorts about a week ago, borrowing several from the now-courting Gohan and some from Bulma. He was now in the main hold of the ship, reclined on one of the large chairs, reading a translation of Homer's Iliad.

Neil and Suraku were busy talking to each other, telling about the politics from where they were born and making comparisons. Namekku-sei and Katatsu-sei turned out to have vast differences, Katatsu-sei running more like a monarchy, where as Namekku-sei was closer to a monastery. They were just getting into discussing how this came to be when the computer made a signal that they were approaching and would be landing shortly.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Despite how much some of them wanted to go see Piccolo's family, since Katatsu-sei was a large, dense, natural planet, it was advised that most of them stay inside to avoid getting crushed by the gravity. Suraku went ahead to the palace as Atsarute, the two Piccolos, and Neil went to the girls' school.

It was a large complex, however, Atsarute explained that the boys' was a lot bigger and more heavily populated. "They have to be separated at a certain age," she said, "because they had recently come of age, and they often don't have their sexual urges quite under control during these years."

The young Piccolo scoffed. "_I_ never went through such an absurd phase."

This made Atsarute stop walking suddenly and cover her face as she started to laugh. He was about to ask what made her react in such a way, but she waved it away and said, "Stay here in the courtyard as he—" pointing to Piccolo Sr., "—and I go talk to Mollosuki. Her first husband will be enough of a shock for her; I think she has to have a little space before she finds that she's not childless either."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Mollosuki was a small woman compared to Atsarute, in perhaps her middle years despite all the time that had passed, and gave off a friendly air with her glowing smile an a sweet floral perfume. Though she certainly showed age since she and Piccolo last met, she was otherwise just as he remembered her. The clothes of a schoolgirl had changed to that of the teacher, and her kind gaze had a character of wisdom, but these were overlaying qualities to her character.

Instead of going to business discussion with her and ignoring the elephant in the room for a while, Atsarute politely introduced the Namek man. The shocked woman, instead of giving him a greeting, approached him and studied his face, even putting her hands on each side to push it around for examination.

"Piccolo! You wily bastard!" She finally cried out, then punched him hard in the stomach, knocking out his air. He held his midriff and tried not to double over from the sudden hit.

When he got some air back into his lungs, he said, "A wonderful way to treat your first husband, Molly."

"You've been gone for hundreds of years! Hundreds! We've all thought you long dead! Where have you been?"

"A planet called Earth. I'm sorry that I didn't contact any of you, but I lost my memory along the way…"

"Oh, amnesia! What a convenient excuse!"

"Geez… I've forgotten how spiteful you can be."

"Do you know what it's like? I'm sure Atsarute's told you how many husbands I've had, and I'm a childless widow still! Have you a clue how distressing it is to be a high-class woman without a single child? If it weren't for the fact that my men keep dying before I could conceive from them, the planet would think that I was infertile!"

"Yes, Dear."

"Don't 'yes, Dear' me! I've got a few more bones to pick with you. The rest of your family has been worried sick, even though your parents still believe that you were still alive and put out rewards for any information on your whereabouts, the rest of them mourned your death and pressured your father into making Dragonballs here, but of course the dragon doesn't grant the wish, since, we thought, you were out of range or too long dead."

"Yes, Dear."

"And _another_ thing—!" Suddenly a loud ring went through the building, and a slight tremor went through the floor.

Atsarute, who was just watching, allowing the scene to resolve itself, looked around in a slight confusion. "Was that the lunch break bell?"

The schoolmarm nodded. "Why?"

She chuckled. "I left someone outside."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The two green men were sitting in silence, not even making eye contact, since they were quite totally tired of each other. Neil only wanted to continue looking around the capital, while Piccolo only wanted Atsarute to exit the building, and both were beginning to feel impatient.

The large front doors to inside the building flew open, and a flood of people poured down the steps. Piccolo and Neil each took a moment to realize that they were female Namekku-sei-jin, both never seeing them before.

Instead of trekking past the two men into the street, they went into a full stop before them, and a great deal of chatter rose among them.

"Wow!… Those guys are both so handsome… Are they twins?"

"Look at how they're staring at us! I bet there aren't any girls where they come from!"

"You think so? Maybe they're rural folk."

"Who care's where they came from? They're hotter than the guys our age!"

Before they knew it, the group of girls surrounded them in a thick circle, each one checking out these guys with the kinds of eyes teenage girls tend to get while examining the body of some sort of celebrity.

Neil's face turned more and more purple, his face soon resembling more of a grape than a Namek's face. Piccolo, on the other hand, tried his best to not seem uncomfortable, trying to put off a cool air, though he actually appeared very tense, and sweat ran profusely down his temples.

"Look! He's blushing!" One girl squealed, followed by a pair of arms glomping Neil from behind, nearly setting off the poor guy's balance. As the circle got tighter, a roar of laughter came from above. Eyes shot up to see the form of Atsarute, accompanied by Piccolo Sr. and Mollosuki, by the window, supporting herself with the wall as she gave such a loud guffaw.

"Hey, you guys!" she shouted between chuckles, "Remember: they're just teenagers!"

Piccolo arched his back in anger and yelled up at the woman from the now quiet circle. "'Just teenagers' my ass! Just get down here and pull us out of this!"

"Why? It's not like I'm dating one of you. Why should I deny these girls a handsome man?"

"Damnit, Atsarute!"

Mollosuki poked her head out of the window as well. "Girls, leave the men alone and continue to lunch, or there will not be a lunch break tomorrow."

A chorus of "Awww"s followed, and the large conglomeration of women soon vacated the area.

"Now, if you don't mind, son," Piccolo Sr. yelled from above, "Come up here and meet your mother!"

* * *

(**a/n**)Ante-clades – before the disaster, as in the weather change. I explained this in the first chapter of "The History of Namekku-sei".  
You know what's funny? Reading my old lemons while "The Sexy Data Tango" is playing. Fucked. Up. 


	23. Complex Relativity

**Disclaimer:** I locked it up in chapter two.

It seems that I've gotten a few inconsistencies… particularly… between the Pasuko-jin and the Puroeriun. I keep forgetting which is which. Damn. Future reference (for myself), Komugiko and Arufuredo are Pasuko-jin; Atsarute and Jakkaru are Puroeriun.

* * *

I only have 3 suggestions right now, and they're all from the same person. You guys have until I post the next chapter to give me scenes that you want to see drawn. 

Mollosuki took the shock well, and by take well would be that she grappled her son's chest and clasped tight. "I have a child now! And he grew up to be so handsome; I bet he won't have any problems finding a woman and having my grandchildren! What did you obtain as a name, son of mine?"

"Piccolo," he said, eyes closed and brow tight, keeping a stern face.

"It figures that he would name you after himself, conceited!" She shot a glance to her first husband.

"It's not like that!" He began, "I told you that I lost my memory and—"

She interrupted him by taking him into the same strong hug. "Oh, shush. I don't care. It would just be a little confusing if I call for one of you and you both answer, and, though I've just met him, my dear son doesn't seem the type to react to 'Junior' well."

"Unless it proceeded 'Ma'," The older one snickered.

"And who is this?" she said, pointing to Piccolo's near twin.

"My name is Neil," he tried to say as politely as possible, "I was raised on Namekku-sei after the disaster by the highest elder as a warrior. I was the best on the planet at the time."

"Oh? Do you know who your parents are or if they're still alive?"

Neil bowed his head. "Apparently my father perished in the weather while protecting my egg, and I was hatched many, many years afterwards. Saichourou told me that his name was Batido."

Suddenly Neil found himself the third victim of her glomp. "No wonder the two of you look so much alike: you both take from me! Now, you both took the height and the muscle from your fathers, and that's good…" She stepped back and examined their faces a moment. "And both of you have a little more of your fathers in you, so you're not exactly alike." She giggled. "Now, instead of having no family, I get a very difficult one!"

Piccolo Sr. seemed to have a lot to absorb himself. "Batido died, eh?" He sat down, and thought a bit before speaking, as if trying to pick the most appropriate words. "I might have competed with him a lot, and, since the marriage was political, we had to compete for you as well, but damned if the guy wasn't a good fighter." Then he laughed a little.

"Wait…" Nail blinked, "If… I'm your son from a different father, and he's your first husband… and you remarried because you thought he was dead…"

"Oh, you see, it was a while after Piccolo left that the disaster actually happened and I had to leave. I married another man after that, your father. was my second husband, since he was most suited for me besides Piccolo. He wished to take care of the egg, so I gave it to him, but I was taken to leave Namekku-sei suddenly by the rest of my family, and he had been left behind."

After a pause, "That's a bit fucked up," Piccolo (Jr.) said.

"Hmm?" The woman cocked her head slightly to the phrase. "Why would that be?"

"Neil was conceived _after_ me, but he's 10 years _older_ than me. It's just a bit… weird…"

"I don't see how that's all that strange," she said, "It's quite common in our culture, hon. Oh, I guess Earthlings can't control when their eggs hatch, do they?"

"No, _Mother_. They don't lay eggs."

"You mean that they have _live_ birth? How horrible it must be for their women!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The rest of the visit with Mollosuki took about an hour or two. Atsarute's business with her took not much more than a quarter an hour, so it was mostly her giving her "new" family motherly affection. She eventually had to leave to prepare teaching a class, and Piccolo Sr. went ahead to the castle himself (able to tell his father's ki from a distance, so he needed no guide), whereas Neil and the younger Piccolo refused to leave the room until they were sure that every girl was back in the class before Atsarute lead them out and towards the castle.

Now that they were walking the road down towards the castle, the two men went silent again. Neil now had a lot to ponder, and Piccolo just seemed to reach his limit of social interaction for the day. Atsarute seemed to be chuckling inside herself about the situations that they were in, but a crashing bell ringing through the street struck off the grin and made her come to a full stop.

Piccolo looked around him after he rubbed his ears, trying to discern where the sound came from. "Was that another one of those lunch bells? Did this one have to be so fucking loud?"

"_Shit,_" Atsarute muttered, "_Stuck out in the road again, and every time I try to run it just gets worse."_

"Excuse me?" Neil raised a brow just before he heard another approach of several people, this time in a group ten times the size of what they saw at the school.

Sweating, both men internally panicked and spun around, expecting to see another hoard of teenage girls, but… this time, it was guys. Several teen boys were coming out of their school, talking casually to one another and spreading out, with several inquiries amongst them about where the other was going to eat.

Neil and Piccolo blinked, then looked at each other, and then heaved sighs of relief. "Well, let's continue to the cast—" Piccolo stopped when he realized that Atsarute was actually hiding behind the pair, making sure that she was out of sight from the teenagers.

"Is there something wrong?" Neil asked, confused on why this woman, who acted so threatening to this point, was suddenly cowering behind him.

"Just shut up and move backwards very slowly," she whispered in a voice so soft that even their Namekku-sei-jin ears could barely pick it up.

"There's nothing to be afraid of, Atsarute," Piccolo scoffed lightly, "They're going to be after Namek girls, not—"

"Imbecile!" She yelled, "Don't say my name!"

Several of the teenagers turned their heads at that moment, recognizing the voice. "Atsarute-sama?" One said. A few began to gather together in curiosity.

"Atsarute-sama? Are you hiding?" Another said, grinning himself, "Come on, since when does a strong women act so scared around a bunch of young men?"

Knowing that the jig was up, she shot up and quickly considered her possibilities. "Err… I just thought… She spun around herself and put her arms around Piccolo and Neil, "…that you boys would be disappointed when you saw my two lovers."

The brothers were dumbstruck, and probably would have been blushing had she not dug her nails into their shoulders. "_Play along with it,"_ she hissed in a soft yet threatening voice, "_or I'll skin you both alive, have a healer restore you, then skin you again."_

The two were confused as Hell, anyways, so they nodded in agreement.

Continuing, she donned an unusual smile for her. "Yeah, there's nothing in Puroeriun law that forbids having more than one lover. At times, it's discouraged: after all, it's confusing and makes inheritance difficult. But, when it comes to Namekku-sei-jin men, if there exist two examples of the same aesthetic sense, it seems logical to go ahead and get both of them."

Most of the teenage Nameks gave sad and frustrated reactions to this. Sure, they figured that Atsarute was out of their league, anyway, but if there are _two_ guys strong enough to be with her, then it's probably not best to ask any more questions.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The three came into the castle in this position. As soon as the gate closed behind them and they were out of view from the remaining guys who didn't let the "news" of the lovers upset them, she finally gave a sigh of relief.

"Now, that we're on the grounds…" Piccolo said, **_"…Could you retract your nails from my shoulder?"_**

"Those aren't nails! They're talons!" Neil moaned.

"Oh." She immediately withdrew her arms and set them free from her grasp. "Sorry about that. They make me so damn nervous. I normally have to fight them off, and I keep having to buy new clothes afterwards…It's a fucking hassle…"

Piccolo rubbed his shoulder, noticing blood coming out and slipping from the punctures under his hand. "I see. Was it absolutely necessary to grab my shoulder instead of my cape?"

"Seemed like the best course of action at the time." She was already walking in front of them towards the throne room. "Come on. Katatsu is waiting."

The throne room was something one might expect from a high Chinese emperor from Earth, gold all over the place, reflecting the natural light that poured from the windows all over the room in a warm glow. Rich colors and designs could be seen in the carpets, tapestries, and furniture, and before the throne, many people sat, looking rather important in their dress.

Upon the throne was an old Namekku-sei-jin man, whose age looked similar to how Kami once looked in value of being decrepit. Despite his obvious age, his ki still radiated to show that he was indeed a strong being. Standing right in front of him was Piccolo Sr.

Piccolo Sr. noticed their entrance. "Ah, here they are, father. The one with the large mantle and turban is my son."

"Indeed," Katatsu said in an intrigued voice, looking over his grandson, "He appears strong. You didn't tell me; does he have a family yet?"

_Christ,_ Piccolo Jr. thought, _Is that all these people think about?_

"No, not yet. He's still unmarried."

"Hmm…" The old man was about to go into thought before a brow cocked as he glanced to Atsarute, who was now licking her fingers, then a growl came from him. "Damnit, I thought that I heard the boy's lunch bell. That's Namek blood that you're licking off those claws of yours, isn't it? How many did you wound?"

She looked confused for a moment. "What? Oh, wait, yeah, this is Namek blood, but this is theirs."

"And how did you get _their_ blood on you?"

"Well… it _did_ have to do with that lunch bell…"

"Ugh… never mind," He addressed his grandson instead, "Piccolo, do you realize that, because your father is my oldest child, you're now in direct line to inherit the kingdom?"

"It passed my mind," Piccolo said half-heartedly.

"We'll worry about a wife for you later; you're still young yet. On more important matters, I want to test your strength in combat after I test your father. Our family is primarily warrior, so, you can imagine, such a measure is important."

"Very well," he answered.

"Good. Atsarute, my son explained that you've known him beforehand. What can you say about his strength and strategy?"

"It has been many years," she said, "but from what I remember, and by how much I imagine that he's improved, he's certainly much stronger than the average warrior. He was able to best Suraku in combat, who I trained personally. As soon as he gets back into training routines, it probably won't take long for him to reach the level of a general."

Katatsu nodded. "Good. A general is just what I need. The army keeps gaining too much girth and I am running out of trustworthy people to appoint."

"Have you given a position to Toniko, yet?" She asked.

"No, and I have no intent on giving my highest-ranking granddaughter a military position. We've already had this discussion, Atsarute. Although I certainly approve of her pursuing a warrior's life, I will _not_ allow a woman in my family to get killed before she is married."

"At least allow her to enter an army under a pseudonym. She would do well in my ranks if you so wish."

"With as many of my family is in your army, I am surprised that you didn't attempt to recruit the sons that you helped bring before me."

"Give me _some_ credit, Katatsu."

"I thought I was. It seemed like the appropriate kind of credit for you."

* * *

Batido – Spanish for "Slug". Condolences for the John Paul. All I can really offer my Catholic readers is that they might someday be Freakin' Popes themselves. Hey, come on, you _know_ that it'd be cool to be Pope Joan II. 


	24. The Right to Fight

Disclaimer: Chapter two.

I apologize for the wait, but I had some surly writers block going on. Here is the URL for the poll!  
http piccylo#8m#com/cgi-bin/polls/003/pollcenter#htm  
Replace the "#"s with periods. FF-net seems to have something _seriously_ against posting URLs in fanfictions.  
Vote! Vote, I say!

* * *

Goku and the others back at the ship were soon told of what had occurred. Anxious to see Piccolo's family, Goku, Gohan, and Kuririn were escorted by Suraku to the palace in the capital. By the time they got there, Mollosuki had also arrived and was talking with her first husband. They sat to the side, busy reestablishing their relationship while explaining to each other what had occurred while they were apart. 

The three looked at each other, confused by this mini-congregation of Namekku-sei-jin. Suraku quickly went through his present relatives to them, not really expecting them to remember as much as be polite enough to introduce them. No one can really expect to remember so many royal cousins and siblings.

"Where's Piccolo-san?" asked Gohan, seeing that he couldn't pick out his trainer from the crowd.

"He's in the sparring chamber with Oji—err, Katatsu. Since he's the son of his eldest child, he's now in direct line to inherit the throne and might also be able to lead part of the army as a general. Because of this, he's testing Piccolo's strength. He'll be interested in testing Piccolo Sr. later, but—" he glanced over at the couple, "Seeing the situation, he'll probably wait until it's more convenient."  
"Who is that person that he's talking to, anyway?" Kuririn said, "Is that Mollosuki?"

Suraku nodded. "I believe that she's interested in beginning a relationship with her first husband again, especially with news of having a family of her own, now."

Kuririn laughed. "I wouldn't really consider Piccolo much of a family."

"Oh, someone didn't tell you yet? Neil is also her son. He and Piccolo turned out to be half-brothers."

"_W-What!_" Kuririn nearly fell down.

"They're related?" Gohan said, rather astonished himself. "I guess that would explain why they look so similar…"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"_Gyaak!_" Piccolo was pushed back several meters. He growled as he lowered his arms from his face to get a clear look of his grandfather.

"I can already tell that you're stronger than most of your cousins, however," the king went into fighting stance again, "That's not going to be enough if I should entrust you with an army."

"I'm not that interested in running your military."

"I would strongly advise it, my unexpected grandson, especially if you plan to continue the line."

"I haven't really planned on it. I don't have much of an interest in my 'future' here."

"Then what do you have an interest in if not continuing your lineage? And since when has a Namekku-sei-jin not cared about continuing a part of himself after death? These instincts are _engraved_ in our culture so deeply. What happens if you die?"

Piccolo did not answer, but continued to stare back at him while still in stance.

Katatsu's brow rose, as if he had just discovered something significant. "Those eyes of yours; they are the eyes of someone who has seen death before."

Piccolo still did not budge.

"Hmm…" Katatsu dropped the stance and crossed his arms. "I see. So what Suraku was telling me was the truth. You have died before, and must have been brought back with a different set of Dragonballs. So, that means, you've already prepared something for your death, haven't you? It was prepared before your first death," He paused again, but Piccolo still didn't speak, so he continued, "But I wont believe you if you say that you're not interested at all in gaining a family, which is why you should have the army instead of your father."

Piccolo scoffed. "Do you expect me to attract some sort of woman just by showing off status?"

"In a way. If you've an army of your own, I thought that it would be easier to get closer to a worthy mate by combining armies. Almost any political system in the universe would give what they can to gain our vast armies on their side. However, I'm thinking more specifically on the subject."

"'More specifically'? Are you going to tell me something stupid now that you've already arranged a marriage?"

"I don't arrange the marriages of my children. I'm not the one with such right in the family; that is your grandmother's authority. But we think that it's best for our children to make their own decisions, though we try to steer them in the right direction when we can."

"I'm growing tired of this!" Piccolo yelled out, "I don't care about our lineage or making a family or any of that shit! Are you testing my strength or not?" No sooner did he say that than he found himself hitting the wall behind him in full force. Another low growl came from him as he pulled himself up, scowling at this figurehead before him.

"You've been through a lot," Katatsu said, "I regret sending my son off so prematurely and setting up your fate to be so trodden upon. Now, come at me."

"If that's what you want—" Piccolo leapt to the old man immediately and elbowed him in the abdomen in such a small fraction of a second. Katatsu seemed surprised, but he quickly recovered and went to punch him back. Piccolo managed to counter him, and the test continued.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"So, what are you guys going to do now?" Atsarute said, looking back at the group, sans Piccolo Sr. (who felt it necessary to stay behind with his father and wife to reestablish his old life).

"What do you mean?" Goku said.

"Well, Piccolo's back to health, and that's why you came to this universe, right? You don't really have a reason to be here anymore."

"Don't be ridiculous," Vegita broke in with his usual air, "This universe is full of people even stronger than I. I cannot just go back to Earth when there's an even better training opportunity here."

Bulma turned to him with an angry scowl. "Vegita! What about Trunks back at home?"

"He's strong enough. He can take care of himself. Heh, I'm sure that Kakarotto feels the same way." This triggered a nervous laugh from Goku and a similar glare from Chi-Chi.

Kuririn sighed. "It's good enough for you Saiya-jin to stay away from home for so long, but I'm really starting to miss #18 and Marron."

"Hmm…" Atsarute turned to Piccolo, "And what are your feelings on this matter? Do you wish to return to Earth?"

Piccolo looked up from his sitting position out of the way of everyone else. "I'm staying in this universe to train, no matter what the others might be doing."

Gohan blinked. "Piccolo-san…"

"I understand." Atsarute turned back to the screen. "If you all so wish, after I finish business on my homeworld, I will send those who wish to return to Earth back and support those who wish to stay."

There was a brief moment of dead air before all those who sympathized returning said, in unison, "No."

"Hmm?" She said, looking over to them with a face that seemed to only half-care, "But didn't you want to return to your families?"

"It doesn't matter," Bulma said, "I'm not going to let Vegita run off to fight and leave me behind like Saiya-jin like to do. Besides, my parents can take care of Trunks."

Chi-Chi nodded, her arms crossed. "Goku's been going off without me for too long. I hardly have a husband anymore!"

"And I take it that the old warrior bind is keeping you from going back, right?" The general woman said to Kuririn. He seems flustered a moment, taken off by the fact that she hit what he was going to say dead on, but resolved to laugh instead of comment on it. She didn't seem to care about the reaction and continued, "Very well. I can also hook up a psychic link later to Earth, if you wish. The place is _covered_ with leylines and communication streams. All you have to do is help me pinpoint whom you want me to contact. As long as their mental powers are sufficient, a link is possible."

Arufuredo shot up. "That's _exactly_ why we were studying Earth! You can control the communication lines, then, Atsarute-sama? Wouldn't the Red Stream be a problem?"

She shook her head. "That damn thing might be a problem for electronics and such, but manipulated correctly, it can be very fast and efficient. In fact, there's no lag at all when using the communication streams properly. I'm sure that you know why, doctor. It's simple quantum physics."

"Yes, of course, but you speak as if you have means of communicating through them, Atsarute-sama. I am quite aware that your people have had much more advancement in the field than ours, but—"

"Your queen uses them as well, Arufuredo, however mediocre, since she took them from some soothsayer that she sucked dry. I cannot use them well, myself, but we have devices and objects manipulated to do most of the work for us back on my home world."

Goku tilted his head, somewhat unsure. "You said that they had to have sufficient mental power…"

"Not much. At least, not really to the level of advanced telekinesis, mind control, or anything of that degree. Just the ability to speak through telepathy is sufficient. I'm sure that you have a few people like that on your planet, from what I've seen in a recording of your planet's tournament."

As soon as she mentioned the tournament, Piccolo winced, but tried to cover it up by turning his face from the group. Even after all these years, remembering how "Jin" watched that recording still struck a bit of a sore spot. _Damnit, and she watched it intently when it came up on that viewscreen, too. She doesn't _still_ feel that way about him, does she?_ He glanced over at her again, then at Goku. _I don't think so._ _She doesn't show him nearly as much attention as she did to the recording… Perhaps she sacked the idea after she figured out that he was married with children?_

"Hmm…" Goku crossed his arms and began to think heavily. "Tenshinhan and Chouzu can use telepathy pretty well… so can Uranai Baba, and probably Kame Sennin. I think Yamcha can… but I don't know about #18 or Trunks… and I never asked Goten if he ever tried…"

"It doesn't matter," she said, "You only need one. The others just need to get in range of his telepathy to hear you as well. Of course, it helps them to be as close as possible and to have telepathic powers themselves to hear and sense you more clearly. And speaking of sensing…" Atsarute turned to the console again and pressed a button. A door on the opposite side of the room opened and a Namekku-sei-jin woman tumbled forward from inside. "Stowing away on my ship is a rather odd way to show rebellion against your grandfather's decisions, Toniko."

Princess Toniko rose and brushed off her yellowish shorts. "How long did you know that I was there, Atsarute-sama?"

Atsarute scoffed. "I saw you sprinting in with the cargo. I didn't say anything because I felt Katatsu is being overprotective in this situation. I understand fully the value of a woman's life in Namekku-sei-jin society, but a fighter should never be kept from her field."

Toniko clutched her fists. "Will you let me in your army, Atsarute-sama?"

"You would need to undergo training first, which I would gladly supply. However, I will not go above the word of your grandmother. You will not be allowed to enter the soldier's training for the army until I gain her word of support."

"But grandfather will find out!" Toniko said, her whole body trembling from her exposure and from the prospect of having to face Katatsu after disobeying him. Arufuredo found himself staring at her while the anxiety shook her and quickly buried his face in his books. Toniko continued, "He may disallow me from fighting ever again."

Atsarute's eyes rolled. "Please. Katatsu wouldn't do something like that to his children. You're a forerunner in one of the most important warrior clans of the Namekku-sei-jin; he will not do something so foolish. And even if he did, his wife will overrule it. I might not speak much to the woman, but she values a woman's right to fight equal to her need to breed. She's a warrior herself, after all."

"So, you will allow me in your army?"

"If you grandmother agrees. For now, you will only be allowed the basic training." Atsarute looked at the others, and focused in Piccolo's direction with an intense stare. "And that goes the same with the rest of you. I won't let any of you enter the army or go into the intense training. My army is not for you."

Vegita growled. "What does that mean? That we're to weak?"

Her eyes shot to him. "It means that you're not a soldier."

"I've been a soldier for most of my life; since I was a child!" Vegita sneered more as he spoke. "And you're going to deny more than half of my life with such a comment?"

"I have never met you before, _Saiya-jin_, but I know that you and your friends would not take my orders well. You might think that all of the terrible things that you heard about me were just propaganda from the Pasuko Empire, but I've seen most of their speeches concerning the things that I've done, and most of these things were true.

Her chin rose to the side and an almost maniacal smirk came to her face. "I've killed millions; Men, women, and children, there's no exception. Piccolo told me that you Saiya-jin did such things as well, but you simply eradicate them with a blast of energy. I've slit throats, smashed corpses, and thrust my hands wrist-deep into the intestines and other organs of others.

Atsarute's eyes scanned over the others. "That's enough to keep you people from entering my army. As for you, 'Prince', you wouldn't last in my army. A soldier doesn't just eradicate the populous; I can do that well enough alone. He fights other soldiers, as well, soldiers on par with him, sometimes, in a _real_ battle setting. If he fails to follow my orders in such a situation, he might find himself dead."

* * *

I went to Cleveland for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Woohoo! 


	25. Royalty of Suisei

**D**isclaime**r** Chapter two. Don't come near me; I might be radioactive.

Katatsu might be _basically_ the leader of all Namekku-sei-jin, but the family is still a matriarchy, so his wife calls the shots in the family, not him.  
You won't get to see Grammy Piccolo anytime soon, though. p

* * *

When the ship landed on the Sui-sei, everyone had grown silent. Even the Pasuko-jin, who already believed that what Atsarute was said to have done could have been possible, were rendered speechless by her admitting it. 

She put the red mantle back on over the horned cape and nearly marched out of the ship ahead of everyone else, motioning briefly for the others to follow. The Puroeriun soldiers (who strangely didn't wear the same clothing as Atsarute's soldiers did) all saluted her, and there was already chattering about the courtyard, but she continued to walk briskly forward, as if she didn't notice any of it.

The scenery of Sui-sei was bathed in a dusk light, a red tint covering the deep colors of the foliage. There must have been an oceanfront nearby, because crashing waves could be heard from a distance. The landing pad was beside a castle; tall, dark, and cold looking, it looked like a place fitting for someone like Atsarute.

Gohan, like the others, was impressed by what he saw. "Why does Atsarute-san want to take over so much if she's already going to inherit all of this?"

Piccolo answered, not looking back at Gohan as he spoke, "She doesn't want to gain power through lineage alone. Besides, she'll only inherit half of it when her mother dies and she takes the queen's throne. When her father dies, her brother will take the kingship for himself."

The phrase confused everyone, including Vegita. "Doesn't that mean that she'll have to marry her brother?"

"No. She explained the whole deal to me earlier. Whomever they marry gains different titles in the government, and two families are put into rule to ensure balance and have a bigger pool of potential heirs."

"But you said that the queen and king were both her parents…"

"Yeah… apparently, her mother was born the only heir. Under such circumstances, the extra throne is given to the spouse, which is why the thrones are king and queen, nothing else, just incase such a problem arises."

Coming up to the palace, the doors flew open before them, and Atsarute continued through in her pace without stopping. The inner walls seemed dim, only lit by some torches and a few small windows, placed high in the tall structure, by a ceiling that seemed to be half a mile away to their eyes. The soldiers by the sides of the carpet they walked upon immediately went to a kneeling position as Atsarute approached. She stopped before a grand staircase and looked up to the platform that they lead to.

On that platform stood a woman who looked as if she was wrapped like a mummy, white linen gauze wrapped around her entire body, save her face, wearing elaborate and large pieces of jewelry over this and a royal blue cloak over her shoulders. A headdress towered on top of her head, ornate and complex in design, made to gather and reflect light in such a way that it appeared she had a small-yet-brilliant star contained within.

She finally spoke. "Atsarute… what have you been doing to have the kingdom so upset?"

"I've simply been fixing some things."

"You've been gone too long; there are many matters here at the castle for you to assess. First and foremost, even with your rumors of death, I held another test for your suitors."

Atsarute's face betrayed displeasure. "How many made it to the end?"

"Only one. The prince of Berra-sei."

"Damnit! Again?" Atsarute now looked full out disgusted. "Every time, he wins, and every time, I have to beat his ass back out of here. I make the tests harder each time; how does he keep winning?"

The woman sighed. "I understand your discontent, Atsarute. He's not exactly the most agreeable of the suitors. I don't see how the prophecies could _possibly_ be speaking of him as a possible husband for you, but he is strong, regardless."

Piccolo's brow cocked and he moved up beside Atsarute. "Prophecy? Is he one of the men you spoke of before?"

"I'm surprised you remember something from so long ago. Yeah, he's the one that I said is unbearable after about 20 seconds."

The woman in wraps suddenly gained an expression of great ire. "Who are you, Namek, to walk up beside my daughter like you have some authority in this kingdom?"

Atsarute turned back to her. "Give it a rest mother. He's a grandson of Katatsu."

"Wait." Piccolo nearly jumped back. "_That's_ your mother?"

"And what is that supposed to mean?" The woman growled.

Atsarute rolled her eyes. "Piccolo, this is my mother, Queen Aikanefi of Sui-sei and the Puroeriun people. I'll give you a better introduction of everyone else if you wish, but I have business to attend to." She began up the steps before stopping beside her mother. "Mother, these people should be treated as guests to the castle. Some are of races from worlds across the Red Stream, and Piccolo is the highest ranking grandson of Katatsu and will possibly be given reign over some of his army."

Aikanefi huffed. "He'd better learn some manners before then, not like he won't add any more bad habits in my delinquent daughter that you turned out to be."

Kuririn smirked and nudged Gohan. "Remind you of someone?"

"I heard that!" Chi-Chi said, smacking Kuririn across the back of his head.

The queen didn't seem to care about what the Humans were doing. "Besides, isn't the most powerful grandchild of Katatsu Toniko?"

"She is also here, mother." Atsarute motioned back to the group towards the Namek woman. "Please treat them well while they're here. Is the prince of Berra-sei in guest quarters?"

"Yes. He was offered the royal guest quarters, per the courtesy that is to be shown to any suitor that gets this far in the testing."

"I figured as such." She started up another set of connecting stairs to the left to a large doorway, stopping right before it and kneeling in. "Kenturion!" She screamed. "Get your fucking ass out here so I can smack it back out!"

Piccolo involuntarily cringed when he heard the name. _No… it couldn't be…!_

A tall, muscular man walked out, adorned in armor that looked like something one would expect to see if they mixed a samurai and a Roman soldier together, but it definitely looked more decorative than practical. His pale-lavender hair, long and clean, partially obscured his lean, angular face and the smile he was giving the woman before him.

There was no doubt; this was the same Kenturion.

The human women began to chatter among themselves, complementing his looks while trying not to be heard by their men.

"Atsarute… I'm so glad the rumors being spread of your demise turned out to be untrue, not like I ever doubted that such a beautiful and powerful woman could ever get killed. Under normal circumstances, I would hope that you would accept me for who I am as your husband…"

"I wonder why Atsarute is so reluctant with him?" Videl muttered to Bulma and Chi-Chi, who just shook their heads in compliance.

"…But if I must beat you into submission with the legendary power that is the royal energy of the Berra-sei-jin."

The three women almost fell over. "He was doing so _well_ till then!"

"Just get in the ring." Atsarute hissed. "I'll catch up after I send some orders out."

He kept his smirk. "Very well, Atsarute." Kenturion left through a different door.

She turned to a soldier. "Prepare the Three Twenty-Two immediately for my guests. They will be using it to communicate with people across the stream."

"Area you certain, Atsarute-hime?" The soldier looked at the Pasuko-jin in the party with an air of hesitance.

"If you feel that you don't trust Dr. Arufuredo and his group, you may keep tabs on them while they use the Three Twenty-Two. Besides, they're not going to be using it; the peach-skinned aliens are the ones that will be communicating."

He nodded. "I will escort them to the machine when it is ready, then?"

"Yes, that'll be good." Atsarute went towards the ring after Kenturion. "Those of you who wish to watch the battle may do so."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Most of the Saiya-jin wouldn't be caught dead not seeing such a fight. All of them were quite curious about Atsarute's skill, especially after getting a sneak peek of her ki earlier on Palus IV and after sparring with some of her soldiers.

Piccolo, of course, had his own reasons to watch the battle.

Kenturion and Atsarute took position on opposite sides of the ring and got into stance. Kenturion pulled out his sword from his hilt and held it before him in the classic plow stance. Atsarute didn't bring weapons, so her position didn't break.

"Oi," Kuririn tapped the shoulder of one of the soldiers surveying the battle, "Isn't this a little unfair? She's unarmed…"

The soldier raised a brow to him. "It doesn't matter. The battle is in Atsarute's favor, anyway."

"Eh? How?"

And then the battle began. Kenturion started off with a frontal attack, aiming to swipe at his opponent. He sliced through air instead as she jumped up and practically bounced off the air to end up behind him. Atsarute threw a punch toward his head, but he managed to dodge while preparing a counter attack, using the same motion to twirl around and try to catch her in his second swipe. She shifted backwards out of the blade's length.

"I don't get it," Gohan said, following their moves with his eyes as he spoke, "Why does Atsarute have to fight him exactly?"

The soldier answered, "By Sui-sei law, a warrior woman of the royal family cannot be married to a warrior man that is unable to best her in combat. For that reason, the battle is necessary. She and her parents have the right to impose tests before they get the right to battle her, as a method of thinning out the suitors who may appear as she's gone, but any who pass these tests must engage in battle with Atsarute-hime before he can marry her. If he wins, he may marry her, whether she likes it or not."

"Eh?" Everyone looked at the soldier as if the idea was insane. "But why?"

"The reason is not told to those outside of the royal family. Disclosure of such information is forbidden. It's assumed that it's just to ensure superior offspring."

The two fighters had already exchanged a lot of slashes and punches, but they mostly blocked and avoided each other instead of actually gaining some sort of damage themselves. Atsarute seemed to be the one that had to use the most imagination in the fight, since she would have to be careful getting into the range of Kenturion's sword.

A slice managed to reach the skin of her arm, but she didn't really heed it. She took it as an opportunity to bash her fist into Kenturion's jaw, sending him back a few meters. He held his face briefly before getting in to position again and going into the offensive. She dodged again and went for his right side, but he managed to catch her side with the hilt, causing her to be thrown backwards.

Her hand unconsciously went to her side. _What the…?_ She didn't have much time to contemplate what just happened before he gave her another flurry of slices. Not in a position to dodge them, she had to block them with her best ability, gaining more and more cuts in the process.

_This can't be right, _Piccolo thought,_ She has to be better than this…!_

The swipes soon forced her to the edge of the ring. As a final effort, Kenturion made the last swipe towards her head. Atsarute fell backwards to avoid it, but the tip still sliced into her cheek, and she landed on the grass outside the ring.

_**

* * *

Ha!**_  
Heh. Couldn't help it.  
Okay, the poll seems pretty much won by the Namek girls, but I'm going to keep the poll going until the _next_ chapter, so if anyone was planning to ambush it, they have their chance.  
Sui-sei is sort of a play on the word "suisei", which is the Japanese word for the strength of a river current, a fitting name since the Puroeriun are somewhat Aquarian in nature. 


	26. Speeding Around the Palace

Disclaimer: It had appeared to me in chapter two.

What? It's already at chapter 26? How the Hell did that happen? Damn, I haven't even gotten to the climax yet.  
Apologies for the extreme tardiness of my chapter. I've been using a lot of my "creativity organ" for things other than fanfiction and fanart. Namely, being DM in a DnD campaign. To make up for it, I made it a little longer than usual.  
And now, finally, the resolution to one of the dumbest jokes ever put in a fanfiction.

* * *

Atsarute gritted her teeth, and her gaze slowly rose to Kenturion's arrogant smirk before she lifted herself off the ground and went back into a fighting stance. 

"Ring-out!" The soldier shouted, "As the rules state, you are no longer confined to the ring for the duration of the fight, Kenturion-sama."

The prince swung his sword over his shoulder. "Now you won't be able to humiliate me with such a defeat as pushing me off this stupid platform, Atsarute."

"Ooh… this is going to be a better fight than I thought," a voice said from behind the Z-fighters, "Kenturion must have gotten stronger since last time."

"Hmm…" said a different voice, "That is true… but Atsa's punches and diversions aren't as precise as before."

Then even another spoke, "Yeah… she must have not been able to train while she was _inconvenienced_."

They looked over their shoulders to see three Puroeriun men, two of which had deeper hues of green and were more mature looking than the other, whose skin tone and age seemed closer to Atsarute's.

Before asking for their identities, a different question came to be voiced first, by Goku. "Hey… what's going on? What happens with a ring-out in this fight?"

The men seemed put somewhat estranged from the question, as if the answer was common knowledge, but they shrugged off the notion quickly before one of the more mature ones, the tallest man with large horns that reached out from the back of his head, said, "You're not from around here, obviously. As law states, in such a fight, the only way the suitor can win is by knocking his opponent unconscious. However, the law does not stipulate under what conditions the suitor _loses_, so tradition has placed rules that include loss through submission, disqualification, and ring-out.

"Of course, the ring-out rule has to be regulated somehow so that the woman can't just walk off and automatically win because the suitor chased after her, so the rule has always been 'ring-out until the female's own ring-out'. Thereafter, she can still win through all other means, but they are no longer confined to the ring."

"Are you quite finished, father?" the younger man said, "The battle is about to start again."

Kenturion was still gloating over gaining his foothold in the match when Atsarute smashed her armored elbow into his stomach. He was sent flying back, and she followed, adding another hit to his chest, which threw his already moving body to dig into the ground.

He got back up soon after, shaking around his locks to get the dust out of them. "Damn, we're you just playing with me before, Atsarute?" He smirked again and got into position. "Very well. Let's continue the game!" Soon nothing but a streak of him was visible until he reappeared before Atsarute, who blocked his swing with the spikes on her arms.

She forced the blade away from her and bashed her fist into his cheekbone. He recalled with another swipe and a shoulder-rush. The range of attacks and actions spread out and more momentum was being put in each hit as a result. The fight had become much more serious and, more surprisingly, harder to watch. Despite the lure to try to keep their eyes on it, the speed was too great for even Goku's ability. Many of them found themselves thinking, _There's always someone stronger_.

There were only flashes of the fighters, appearing for a moment or so in random spurts all around, sometimes on the ring, sometimes not even close to the edges, and sometimes high in the air. What was usually seen was Kenturion blocking Atsarute, which would suggest that either Atsarute is on a vicious offensive, or she was cleanly dodging his blows without having to slow down or stop. The instances gradually became less frequent, but longer lasting when they occurred.

They suddenly burst into view again, about 20 meters from the edge of the ring. The fighters' hair and loose-cloth swirled, revealing along with the positions of their bodies that Atsarute had kneed Kenturion in the abdomen with a high momentum from a spin as he was turning to slash behind him. The wide-eyed man fell backwards, sweat running down his temple. She must have knocked out all of his air, and it was obvious that he would not be able to retaliate before she claims her victory. With another spin, she knocked him over the head, straight into the dirt, and thus the fight ended. Kenturion was rendered unconscious.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Kenturion was taken back to the guest room, accompanied by a few of the palace nurses to ensure that he was all right. After all, the guy was the prince of Berra-sei, a planet that produced some substantial imports for Sui-sei. Their royal families were in good terms, and they would like to keep it that way.

The victor said nothing before taking her leave, not leaving an acknowledging glance for them or the three men that had appeared.

"Oh, right." A spark seemed to have flashed in the head of the tallest man. "Toniko, these people are with you as Atsarute's guests, correct?"

She nodded. "That is correct, King Naiosai."

"Well, the Three Twenty-two is operational for their use. Come, I'll lead you all there." He motioned down a hall, and the whole group followed.

"If you don't mind me asking, Naiosai-ou," Toniko said, "why are you escorting us instead of a soldier?"

"I dismissed all the soldiers for the day as soon as I heard that Atsa had landed. She dislikes their company the majority of the time… I think she just dislikes being called 'hime' like that. Of course, they've been doing so since she was still a small child, but it's just awkward and unfitting for her now. She outgrew it when she outgrew 'chan'."

The youngest scoffed a bit. "I still call her 'chan' sometimes…"

"Only so you can annoy her," said the other older man, "I know what sibling rivalries are like, Derosen. Your father and I have been in enough of them."

"Heh. That's certainly true," said King Naiosai before going through a door into a separated chamber, beckoning the others to do the same.

When everyone had poured into the room, Naiosai began fiddling with the controls a bit himself. This was taken as an opportunity for the Humans and Saiya-jin (The three Nameks had somehow broken themselves off from the group while they were being led, and the Pasuko-jin had been lead elsewhere) to evaluate amongst themselves what had been happening thus far.

"So that guy," Gohan muttered quietly to the others, "is Atsarute-san's father?"

Kuririn lowered his head solemnly. "It seems that way. Toniko called him 'King' after all."

"And the other two are also related to her?" Videl pointed at the other men while pressing herself slightly more towards Gohan as an attempt to quell her unease that she never had a chance to settle. "The younger one, he called him 'Derosen', is her brother? And the other—"

"—is her uncle," Bulma interrupted. "I definitely see a family resemblance here." Indeed, there was. It was perhaps strongest seen in Derosen, exhibiting the same shade of skin as Atsarute's with similar silver scales and long black hair, except his was bound into a thick braid instead of let loose like his sisters. Naiosai's skin, however, was even darker than what would be exhibited in a Namekku-sei-jin, and his tall horns didn't seem to be inherited by either of his children. Regardless, they did have features that could be called his own: their broad shoulders and much of their faces could not have been genetic gifts from the queen they had seen earlier.

They did not get to learn the uncle's name (or whether any of the information that they deduced thus far was true), as the three men quickly made the adjustments and left the group with little instruction on how to use the device.

Chi-chi huffed. "The whole family is antisocial, I take it?"

Goku gave a nervous laugh along with a light shrug. "But they let us use their device to contact Earth. I think that's rather nice of them."

Bulma went forward and started on the controls herself. "I gathered how to work this thing from what they said. It's all ready set to Earth. We just need to choose the person to link to." She turned to the others. "We can contact each in turn and have them gather together if you want."

"That's a good idea, Bulma-san," Gohan smiled, "Try to contact Kame-Sennin first. He can call Trunks and Goten together while you contact Tenshinhan and Yamcha, and have them meet at Kame House."

Videl made a face to Gohan. "Don't forget my father and Buu."

"Right. Contact Buu as well."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Piccolo left the group at the same time as his cousin, but he wandered towards a different direction, looking at the murals painted into the walls and the decorative fixtures set throughout the halls. Unlike Katatsu-sei, his surroundings were cold, dark, and spacious. Outside, the sun had already set, and the inner castle's corners seemed to extend with the darkness. The wide windows let the ocean mist drift in from time to time, making the surroundings look very surreal.

"Ah, you're Piccolo, right?" a voice came from the side as Piccolo was examining a painting of one of the previous Sui-sei monarchs. When he turned, he saw the uncle that had been watching Atsarute's fight earlier. He wasn't quite as tall as his brother King Naiosai, and he wore his hair just as long as Derosen did, but instead of being bound into a tight braid, it was loose and wild, almost reminding him of Raditz. He held up a bottle of some sort of alcohol that Piccolo was able to smell even from where he was standing. "My name is Setto. If you haven't heard yet, I'm Atsa's uncle. If you're looking for her, she's probably training in the floor above."

"Training? So soon after a fight?"

"Well, what can I say? She's like that. Besides, that's usually how she spends her time when she's waiting for her clothes to be tailored, and she just ordered a new set made since her body has changed from slight malnutrition."

"I see… when will she be out?"

Setto tilted his head. "It's hard to say, really… I'm sure that she'll be out, washed, and dressed in time to see Kenturion's leave. I don't think that she'll mind if you came into the training chamber, though. It's one of the few rooms on that floor in this wing of the castle; it shouldn't be hard to find."

Piccolo nodded his thanks and went towards the last staircase that he saw while walking along the halls. Setto continued to the direction he was going previously, intending to continue about his business, when he stopped and thought aloud, "I wonder if I should have warned him to be a little wary of Atsa's training dress? Oh well."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Setto said, the chamber was easy enough to find. Even if there were more rooms on that floor, Atsarute's enormous power would still make it easy enough to locate. However, right before it was another person with his arms full of clothing, whom he supposed was the tailor.

"Atsarute-sama," the man called to the room, "I wish to show you the design for your battle arena outfit so that you may tell me if it is satisfactory."

"Just a moment," her voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"All right. I'll get it ready." He fidgeted with the clothing a bit, and finally pulled out what looked like a mass of hide straps into one hand. "Here it is," he mumbled.

Piccolo looked at it in disbelief. "How the Hell is she supposed to wear that?"

The tailor looked over at Piccolo. "Huh? Well…" He scrambled little more to let his other hand poke out from the mound of cloth. "All the pieces run over different areas of the body to provide protection to the more vital areas. This is the main strap, which all the straps intersect at some point to maintain structure. It runs from her neck, between the breasts, and down over her—"

"Never mind," Piccolo growled, "Forget that I asked."

"Oh but it's really an ingenious design, I think. After all, even though its light, it's very tough and cannot be ripped unless—"

"I said never mind!"

Then a loud clank came from the door. "Okay. It should be open now." Atsarute's voice said again.

Piccolo barged in first, now somewhat angered and wanting an answer to the enigma that the tailor held before him. "Atsarute! Why the Hell do you go around fighting practically—" He cut himself off short when he saw her.

She did a series of speed punches and kicks before looking to the side at Piccolo. "Huh?"

"…Practically…" He swallowed, then made a scowl and crossed his arms tightly, squeezing his eyes closed.

Atsarute raised a brow and crossed her own arms over her bare breasts. "Uh huh…and what's with you?"

"…You train in the nude?" He grumbled out, trying not to sound too surprised.

She looked down at herself. "I'm wearing trainer braces on my wrists and ankles…"

"That doesn't count."

"…And a bandage on my cheek where Kenturion cut me…"

"That doesn't count either."

"I don't wear cloth when training; I don't want to tear it. It's not like I can conjure it out of thin air like some of you Namekku-sei-jin can. And what were you yelling about when you came in, huh?"

He pointed at the "outfit" the tailor held before him.

Atsarute walked forward and gathered some of it into her own hand, apparently testing out its weight. "It's lighter than ever. I take it that this is an improvement upon the older leather one?"

"Yes, Atsarute-sama."

"Ah… this really is a good job… and the material looks even thinner, so it probably offers even less wind resistance."

"That's how you wanted it, right?"

"Of course." She smiled and looked back at Piccolo, who looked like he wanted to smack himself. "And what's your problem with it?"

He growled again. "How can that _possibly_ offer any sort of protection?"

"You'd be surprised. It covers the vital points, after all. My bracers and boots guard my forearms and shins, and the straps on this are of perfect distance to keep something off my skin while not needing more material. Besides, it's not designed for _protection_ as much as it's designed for _speed_. Speed is the most important element in an arena battle, more important than it is in almost any other battle setting." She turned back to the tailor. "Thank you. This design is definitely satisfactory. Are you redesigning any of the other arena outfits?"

He made a nod. "The webbing one. I found an even stronger spider webbing that would do splendidly for it. The prototype will be finished by the end of the day."

"Good. You may leave." She turned to a small control panel after the tailor exited. "Piccolo, do you mind if I lock the door again?"

He grunted. "Why would I mind?"

"Are you sure?" She smirked. "I mean, you're Namekku-sei-jin after all."

Piccolo's eyes rolled. "Gee, maybe you shouldn't after all. I'm sure that my deprived Namek blood would just boil at the thought of being locked in a room with a nude woman," he said sarcastically.

She stared at him a moment before busting out laughing.

"_Now_ what is it?" Piccolo's veins were plainly in sight by this point, and he clenched his fists so hard that it was a wonder that he didn't pierce his own hand with his nails. "You were laughing like that earlier at Katatsu-sei. What the Hell is that about?"

It took a moment for Atsarute to regain her composure. "I suppose it's about time that I tell you." She sighed and brushed away a tear. "You know that Valentine's Day when we were living together on Earth?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"It's so good to be able to speak to you again," Kuririn said to the floating orb that hovered above the strange machine, trying to keep from crying tears of joy. "I've missed you both so much."

"We've missed you too, Daddy!" Marron's voice rang through from the orb, "Didn't we, Mommy?"

Then #18's voice took dominance. "Kuririn, how long are you going to be until you get back? You've been gone for a good two months now."

He sighed. "I know, and it looks like we're going to be gone for even longer. We've decided to stay here to train."

There was a conglomerate "What!" that bashed though. Then Mr. Satan's voice screamed out, "Videl! Do you intend to stay with that kid in that other universe?"

Videl laughed nervously at her overprotective father. "Well, I'm not about to let him stay here alone."

"What kind of nonsense is that? Gohan! Bring my daughter back to Earth immediately!"

Gohan frowned. "But I really want to stay and train with my father and Piccolo-san."

"What is that universe like?" Kame-Sennin's voice said next.

Goku looked up in thought. "It's really hard to explain. A lot of unexpected things happened after we got here. We even met Piccolo's old girlfriend."

"Girlfriend…?" A stifled chuckle passed about among the group from both sides of the line.

"Figures that she'd be in an entirely different universe," Yamcha's voice mumbled.

"Bulma," Dr. Brief's took over this time, "Have you found some interesting samples that you can bring back?"

"Yeah. You'll be amazed when you see the stuff. I have several blueprints and sketches from Dr. Arufuredo of various kinds of equipment. The Pasuko-jin are a _very_ advanced race. But the Puroeriun turns out to be even farther ahead! I've been trying to get things from them as well."

"Hmm…they're the enemy, right? Won't that be a little dangerous?"

Bulma blinked. "Oh, right. We forgot to tell you about what happened about that." She turned to the others. "Heh… which one of you think that you can explain this the best?"

Almost everyone shook their heads, many feeling lucky to understand what's been happening themselves.

"I'd be a lot easier to explain if they were here," Chi-Chi said.

This seemed to make the usually-dim light bulb over Goku's head light up. "Hey, I've got an idea! You guys can sense their ki through the machine too, right?"

It seemed to strike Vegita as well. "Yeah. Clearly."

Goku turned to the orb. "Can any of you guys sense us?"

There was a short pause. Tenshinhan's voice spoke. "You're ki is very definite. It's almost like you are right here among us. Why?"

"Hehehe!" Goku made a goofy smirk before bringing two fingers to his forehead. "Yosh!" And in an instant, he had disappeared.

A commotion came from the other side. "Goku! You mean you're able to teleport through that thing?"

"Since I could since you, I used my Instantaneous Movement to get here. If you want, I could bring you back with me to that planet as long as the machine is on."

"Sugoi!" Kuririn said, "I didn't think that it would be able to do that as well!"

Gohan leaned forward towards the machine more. "I bet Atsarute-san and Dr. Arufuredo would like to see this. I don't think they know that Otou-san is able to this.

**_"I DID WHAAAT!" _**A completely different voice boomed in from above. Everyone's eyes shot up immediately.

"What was that?" Videl wandered aloud.

Gohan stared upwards a little longer before answering, "It sounded like Piccolo-san."

* * *

Hime – Princess (if, for some reason, you don't already know)  
Another reason this was a little late: FIGHT SCENES ARE HARD! Can't I just make them roll their initiatives?  
And here is the URL to the Namek girls picture that you've all been waiting for!  
http/www#deviantart#com/deviation/20638973/  
Remember to replace the #s with periods. FFnet still hates URLs.  
And since that has been posted, you guys can go ahead and submit suggestions for the next drawing if you like. I promise that I won't take so long with drawing it this time… ;;;  



	27. More Questions than Answers

Disclaimer: That Secondies Chapter.

Well, that one certainly seemed to be a crowd pleaser. And that is definitely true: Inside every Namek is a pervert.

* * *

"I can't believe… how did I… since when… what about… what kind of… is my strength… there isn't… I couldn't… fucking things like…no way… if it weren't for… not a thing… where does…" Piccolo mumbled, sitting on a mounted chair with an expression and a drooping posture like he just had a heart attack. 

"Congratulations." Atsarute smirked. "You've now said the longest string of incomplete sentences since I heard a speech in Sui-go by an alien politician that didn't know a smidge of the language."

He forced himself into an erect posture and put a hand to his forehead. "Damnit all!" He glared at Atsarute accusingly. "You said that I didn't do anything unusual and that I didn't need to hear about it!"

"It's not like I lied. I said that you were just acting like a smashed moron. Smashed morons do things like that. And with what state you were in after, you really didn't need to know about it."

"But you could have told me later!"

"And what would that serve? Come on, I didn't really want to talk about that night any more than I had to then. The state you were in worried me so much that it was embarrassing." She crossed her arms and looked away. "Besides, it's not like it's a big deal or anything…"

"Not a big deal? Atsarute, I almost fucking raped you!"

Insert comical timing: Goku phased into the room just in time to hear that last comment. The two gave him the deer-in-headlights look, and Goku's own face wasn't too far off from that as well.

Atsarute was the first one able to form words. "What the bloody Hell are you doing here?"

"I-I heard Piccolo scream and came to check it out," Goku sputtered out before blushing and scratching his head with a goofy grin, "I didn't realize that I interrupted… something."

Her glance shot to the door and the control panel before going back to him. "How?"

"Hmm?"

"_How_ did you get in? The door's locked!"

His blush deepened. "I really did come in a bad time."

"_Son_," Piccolo hissed out. "_Don't go making assumptions._"

Goku sighed and leaned his head to one side in honest curiosity. "But what did you mean when you said that you almost raped her?"

Piccolo winced, taking a grimace that made him look disgusted. The question seemed so strange, especially to come from Son Goku of all people. He even said it strangely. He wasn't quite sure if Goku was asking out of concern or if he just wanted clarification on the definition of the word "rape". He seriously hoped it was the latter.

"Hey! Dumbass!" The general woman growled, "I asked you a question first! Answer it!"

Goku continued to ignore her, contorting his face to show that he was in serious thought. "Oh. Sou da. I bet I know what happened." He approached Piccolo and nudged him a bit with his elbow. "You were just talking about having to contain yourself when she took off her clothes for you, right?"

Piccolo blinked with saucer-wide eyes, then shook it off and growled at him again. "Do you want me to blast a fucking hole in your chest a _third_ time? If you recall, that last time _killed_ your ass along with your brother!"

"That wasn't it?" was Goku's reaction.

"I told you to not go assuming things, you orange-suited monkey!"

Atsarute finally got fed up and smacked Goku upside the head. "Answer my fucking question before I rip you into small enough pieces that you can be fed to one of the house-cats on your planet!"

"Oh yeah… You wanted to know how I got in here right?" Atsarute replied with an exaggerated nod. "Well, I'm able to teleport to any ki I can sense at will. It's called 'Instantaneous Movement'. I learned it from some people on the planet Yardrat."

"'Yardrat'…?" She repeated, and then shook her head. "Yeah. Okay. Whatever. I'll have to talk to you about it later…" Her interest seemed to be sparked, but she was still obviously upset, which both Goku and Piccolo could sense easily. Since she was too pissed to continue questioning him, she picked up her sweat towel and wrapped it around herself, then pressed some buttons on the control panel. "I'm through wasting my time on this," she said while snapping the braces off her arms and legs. "Piccolo, be a dear and set your moron friend straight. I'm going to go drop by the tailor's quarters before I wash up." With that, she left.

Piccolo groaned. _'Be a dear,' she says… damn her._

Goku looked at Piccolo with confusion again. "Well?"

The Namek's first order of action was to punch Goku in the head and call him another string of intelligence-centered insults. When he finally had his fill of that, he spitefully explained Atsarute's training habits, trying to make Goku think him as so upset that he wouldn't have to explain the rape comment. _There is no way I'm going to admit, especially to **him** of all people, that I lost control because of some damned faux-gang-leader._

His old rival did get somewhat intimidated by his anger, but not enough to stop him from asking questions. "But if she does that all of the time, why is she so upset about me coming in?"

"How the fuck should I know? She bloody well didn't care when the tailor and I saw her naked. Hell, the tailor was _invited_ in, and I _barged_ in. She's probably just upset because you came in at such an awkward time without any sort of warning."

"Hmm… I suppose your right," and there was a short pause before, "And what were you talking about when I came in, anyway?"

Piccolo mentally screamed every sort of curse he could think of before trying to scrounge up some sort of lie from the depths of his mind. Goku was pretty naïve, but he was also intuitive from time to time, so its hard to tell if any lie, stupid or not, would work on him. "We were just… talking about when we were still living together on Earth. That's all." Piccolo placed his chances on a half-truth, since he couldn't think of anything else to say. "It's something that you really wouldn't understand if you weren't there."

With the prospect of having to use more of his brain than necessary, that answer seemed to satisfy him. But he wasn't finished with his questions. "And why did you scream earlier?"

"Eh?"

"Everyone heard you say 'I did what'. Even everyone at Earth that we contacted through that machine."

"That's related to the rape comment."

"It is?"

"Yeah. We were having an argument over what happened this one time. Both of us were still a little confused about all the details. Don't worry about it."

"Oh…" Goku looked to the floor, beginning to feel slightly foolish.

"Now, if you don't mind—" Piccolo went for the door himself and was already in the hall. "--I had something else to talk with her on before you interrupted."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Goku appeared before his friends in the room below again and reported a _truncated_ version of his findings (people may think him an idiot, but he knew better than to mention in his wife's presence that he saw another woman naked). Since it seemed that Atsarute would be busy for a while, they decided to continue the discussion with their friends and family that were still on Earth.

They enjoyed the conversation immensely; even Vegita was glad to speak to his son after being separated from him for so long (which seemed strange since the warriors became quite accustomed to separating themselves from their homes for long periods of time, but one could expect something like this from such a huge culture shock as another universe).

Dr. Arufuredo, before long, came into the room as well. "Since the guards left, I went to take a look around myself," he said, "Everyone else is speaking with some of Atsarute-sama's fighters and working in a way for us to join. Most of them don't seem to have a problem with it; though it's a bit insulting that they thought we were too stupid to try to have double agents…"

"Dr. Arufuredo!" Gohan beckoned him closer. "You might find this interesting."

"Hmm? What is it? Is it about the Three Twenty-two?" He paced over to the queer machine, adjusting his glasses as he peered at it. "It's truly an amazing device…"

"Yeah, but there's something that you and Atsarute-san didn't know that Otou-san can do…" He directed his gaze to his father. "He's able to use it to transport himself to the people it's sectioned on."

"What? How is that? I'm quite certain that the Three Twenty-two was only capable of communication."

"Yes, but he has the ability to transport himself to the place of whoever he is able to feel the ki of, and since we can sense the people we're talking to through this machine, he's able to use it."

The doctor's glasses slipped down his nose as he stared in amazement in reaction to what he was just told. "You're kidding. You must tell Atsarute-sama of this as soon as possible!"

Gohan nodded. "We intend to. Do you have any idea what she's doing right now?"

"Not a clue. Going through these halls, it's rare to see anyone along the way, this place is so large. I think that I might have run into one maid on the way here, and she didn't seem interested in talking. But show me, anyway. I want to see it for my self."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Piccolo found Atsarute not long after he went looking, catching her just as she was leaving the tailor's office. She had taken off the sweat towel and was once again in the nude as she walked the halls. He managed to force out any lingering thoughts before gaining her attention. "Atsarute!"

She looked over her shoulder to him. "Oh, Piccolo. Is there something else you wanted to talk about?"

"Well, we _were_ in the middle of a conversation before Son interrupted us." He walked up beside her and continued with her down the hall, forcing his eyes to stay on her brow. "We were talking about… what I did that night."

She sniggered again. "You were just acting a little crazy. You shouldn't worry about it."

He groaned. _This wouldn't bother me **nearly** as much if it weren't for that dream… not to say that it wouldn't still bother me. _"It's not that I care whether or not you minded it, but it's that I lost control like that…"

"Oh? So my opinion doesn't matter in this situation?"

"You know what I mean."

She shrugged. "You lost control for a bit. Big deal. I was able to fight you off, so there wasn't a problem."

"But what if you _weren't_ able to fight me off?"

"Considering the condition you were in, you probably wouldn't have gone before passing out."

"But still…" He sighed and decided to give up on that line, but a different series of questions came to mind. "Can I ask about what you said earlier, then?"

"Sure. What is it?"

"Towards Son… you were being rather… well, you were pissed off."

"Yeah. Is there a reason I shouldn't be pissed at a guy who just _appears_ in a locked room like that?"

"Well, you do remember him from that tournament recording, don't you?"

"Yeah, I remember him, and I notice that he hasn't gained any intelligence since then, has he?"

"Huh? No, not really…"

Atsarute looked up to the ceiling. "Really, I can't see how you could let yourself lose to him. Heh, funny thing is, every time I saw that recording, I sort of rooted for you to win, even though I knew that you weren't going to."

"W-what? You mean you were blushing about…"

"Oh…" Her steps stopped and her eyes shifted to the side. "So you _did_ notice that I got a little flustered watching it, huh?"

_She was blushing about **me **all that time? _He tried to hide his reaction and fronted a different air. "Why are you so surprised that I noticed? Even _Shuran_ noticed, for God's sake."

"Heh… that's true." She grinned back at Piccolo, her cheeks slightly flushed.

"Hmm…" He tried not to let his mind (or eyes) wander while he tried to remember his other question. "You also said earlier… that you were so worried about me when I came in smashed that it's embarrassing."

"Yeah… what of it?"

"You were _that_ worried about me?"

The corner of her mouth turned to a slight scowl. "Well, you were coughing up blood and shit. You were just poisoned…"

"But why did you even care?"

"Why did you care about my wound on my side?"

Upon her saying this, he immediately shot his eyes down, searching for any sign that might still exist that remembered the accident. For the first time, he realized that she had scars everywhere on here body, mostly on her arms and legs, but some on her torso as well, all varying in size and width. He found the scar that marked where the slash was that she obtained when her spaceship crashed on Earth. From the years that had gone by, it was now nothing more than a line of pale skin, a scar that had healed and shrunk as the years went by. Before he could have stopped himself, he reached out and his fingers rubbed lightly against the mark, as if he was trying to assure to himself that it was closed.

"Urk!" Atsarute hurriedly pushed him away. "Wh-wh-wha-what are you doing?" She stuttered out, her face turning beet-red. Her arms now attempted to hide her body as her fists kept themselves clenched.

Piccolo felt a wave of confusion rush into his mind and he raised a brow. What the Hell… Why is she so shy all of the sudden?

"I… need to go take that bath, now…" She turned and sprinted off, so flustered that she didn't notice the person in her path until she bashed into him and fell back on her ass.

The person that she bumped into was Kenturion. "Atsarute? What are you doing?" Instead of saying something cocky or lewd as Piccolo expected, he offered her his hand and helped her up, speaking in a concerned tone, "You look quite disheveled. Did something happen?"

"You're already awake?" She choked out. "I didn't expect you to regain consciousness so quickly."

"Yeah, even I was surprised on how fast I came to. But don't ignore my question. What's wrong?"

"Kenturion," she whispered in an angry growl, "Don't act so nice when there are others around, remember?"

"Huh?" His gaze moved over to see Piccolo, and he jumped back. "_Fuck!_ I mean… err… of course you would be acting so strange with me around and so closely defeating you! You're even disrobed before me…" He scratched his head. "Damnit, that didn't even make sense…"

"Just forget it," Atsarute hissed, her whole face still flushed, and she marched forwards down the steps.

"Ah! Atsarute!" Kenturion called after her. "Wait!"

Piccolo's confusion only increased as he tried to figure out what just happened. _Why was he acting so nice to her all of the sudden? Was his attitude earlier just an act?_ Then he felt a slight tinge of jealously, and shook his head viciously to clear it of these silly emotions.

* * *

A quick chapter-up! And still a little longer than usual, too… 


	28. Train Rest Train

Disclaimer: 2nd chapter. Hurry before it runs away!

Ah, I neglected to mention earlier that what Piccolo did on that Valentine's Day that he doesn't remember was in a songfic (in GVD Extras), in case that confused anyone.

* * *

When Goku's ability finally got through word of mouth in the castle, the royalty of Sui-sei quickly flooded the room with the Three Twenty-two and questions were being tossed all around his Instantaneous Movement and the planet Yardrat. Unfortunately for them, Goku could not remember a coordinate code for a planet if his life depended on it, so the location of the planet was left in the dark outside the fact that it was across the Red Line, which, to them, meant uncharted territory. And they weren't about to try and have Goku teach them this technique. 

Otherwise, the simple idea of it went over well with the royal family. Even Atsarute (after she had taken her bath and put on another set of clothes) had forgotten her anger at him for the time being and let her intrigue take over, grasping at all the possibilities if such a thing as transportation was really possible through the communication streams, mentally applying them to military campaigns for surprise maneuvers. Derosen and Naiosai were already discussing how it could affect trade. And Aikanefi, she could already see how it would help diplomatic relations with planets that they had to compromise face-to-face negotiations for screens and speakers, which was always a less desirable method of committee.

And for the Earthlings, this meant that they didn't have to rely on a ship or wait on others to go to and fro between their homes and this new universe. If reinforcements were needed on either side of the strain, the mandatory wait that had gone so far as cost lives before would not be an issue.

But Piccolo… he only glanced in to take in what all the commotion was about before walking off again. Right now, all he wanted to do was to avoid all contact with any sentient life form, and he pulled that off pretty well. The place was so large, it didn't take him long to find a deserted floor and settle himself in a far corner room to meditate.

Although the meditation wasn't as easy to get into as he would have hoped. It kept breaking on him from time to time as he unconsciously followed Kenturion's and Atsarute's movements by their ki. Eventually, however, the distraction lessened, since Atsarute rooted herself in the room with the Three Twenty-two, and Kenturion soon left, back to his own home world.

After that, he must have gotten a good two hours of meditation in before noticing that someone else came into the hall. Two people. Since he was still deep in meditation, he wasn't able to make out whom the ki belonged to until he pried his eyes open to see his "relatives", Toniko and Neil, as soon as they entered the room that he took occupation. Piccolo gave a slight laugh when he realized that he had completely forgotten about Neil after they had left Katatsu-sei, thinking of it as some sort of triumph over the state he was in not too long ago, back when he was constantly reminded of his presence.

"Well, Piccolo," Neil began nonchalantly, "If you remember, Atsarute said that we could go into her army's basic training if we wanted. The training areas have been prepared and we're about to move off to it. Since it's basic training, there aren't going to be any big fighters there like there was at that banquet, so the _rest_ of us have a chance." The last bit he said in a slightly bitter tone, betraying the envy he felt when both Piccolo's were able to actually defeat high-ranked soldiers under Atsarute when he had trouble with the average footman.

Piccolo rose. "Very well." He glanced over at Toniko. "So I take it 'our' grandfather hasn't been informed of your choice, yet?"

The princess looked to the ground and spoke tentatively, "I want to train a little with her soldiers before I do… to show him that I can handle it."

Neil shifted her eyes to her. "I told you that he doesn't strike me as the type that would doubt your power, and Atsarute agrees with me."

"She's just procrastinating," Piccolo said coolly.

The comment made Toniko's defenses visually go up, but she sighed when she realized he was right and changed the subject. "I know the way to the training grounds, so I'll bring you both there myself. Everyone else is already preparing to move themselves, and we're expected to meet there."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

They flew towards the site, which wasn't terribly far from the castle (but far enough to reduce the chance of damage). However, as they flew, Neil not only flew behind Toniko (instead of right beside her as Piccolo expected him to do), but he hung all the way back by Piccolo.

Before Piccolo could ask his half-brother why, Neil shot him a telepathic note: _I can't stand being around that girl anymore._

_Eh? What do you mean?_

_The way she acts towards me… I'm not used to that kind of attitude. It's not even like those weird girls back in our mother's school. It… frustrates me._

Piccolo oppressed his smirk since he knew that, even though he wanted to laugh at him, that he would soon be walking into ridicule for the same thing if he did. _And you think that staying by me is preferable? Haven't we gotten quite tired of each other after so many years?_

Neil made an audible growl. _I don't like it either, but I seriously can't withstand her presence any longer. We've been wandering though that palace, talking about various things, and she shot me the strangest looks. It took me a while to recognize it as similar to how those Human females looked at their mates._

_Does it make it any worse that you two are related as well, albeit through marriage?_

**_YES!_** Neil was now mentally hissing at everything around him, which didn't get unnoticed by Toniko. She paused briefly to look back at them, then shrugged and continued.

_See? Did you see how she was looking at me?_

_Neil, I think you're overreacting._

_Oh, like **you** know what it's like to be in that kind of situation._

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Even "basic training" took naught more than three hours to wear out each of the warriors. The Pasuko-jin, who were given this as an initial run-through before they entered the military training, took turns groaning at the idea of enduring something even harder, and Toniko, even though she was just as determined as ever to enter the army herself, was groaning along with them. The Saiya-jin, as headstrong as they were, maintained that they only needed a little rest (and a lot of food) before they can go at it again. Kuririn was having flashbacks of his training under Kame-Sennin, half expecting someone to tie him to a tree and throw a rock at some sort of Sui-sei bee hive and tell him that he had to dodge them. Videl _tried_ to go as long as at least Gohan, but soon passed out on the ground, and he warily carried her out of the way before returning to the brutal training.

The training was mostly a series of endurance trials, which had them carrying around large, spherical devices called "Atlas Orbs" on their backs, while jumping from surface to surface, running about in what seemed to be an evolving landscape that could change rapidly, even suddenly at times. One was able to change density (thus weight) of the Atlas Orbs at the turn of a dial on a console that also controlled the weather conditions of the large training area. Storms of all kinds could rage at the drop of the hat, even simultaneously at times. It was terribly trying on their conditions; who could imagine being pummeled with stinging-cold hail and searing-hot volcano _bombs at the same time_?

Now everyone was resting in the center area, a circle of calm, temperate weather that surrounded the room's control panel. Atsarute, who had lead them there, did not stay to train with them, but her brother Derosen was there, messing with the controls from time to time. But since everyone was too tired to continue, he now resolved himself to sitting in the training area himself, tossing one of the Atlas Orbs around playfully while singing something in Sui-go. Nobody paid any mind to it except Piccolo, who took a while to recognize it himself since he felt like Freeza came back from the dead and beat him up a hundred times over.

"What is that song?" he said.

"Hmm?" Derosen glanced over his shoulder at Piccolo. "Just an old folk song. Why?"

Piccolo strained for a moment to remember where he heard the melody before. "I think… yeah, I heard your sister hum it from time to time before." He even recalled a time when "Jin" hummed it lazily while dusting the blinds, looking otherwise lost in thought. _I thought it was just some Voltaire song that I never heard._

"Oh yeah, it's one of Atsa-chan's favorites that Father used to sing quite often. Its title translates to… 'Nothing More Dangerous', and its pretty much about ransacking villages. Let me see if I could translate the chorus:

A good swig of liquor is the least you should try for,

And a room full of riches should be naught a start of your ambition,

But no matter you're goal, remember to be cautious,

For there's nothing more dangerous than

A dying man's breath, and a pregnant woman's scream.

"Wow, that sounds weird when it's not in Sui-go," he observed immediately afterwards.

"Derosen-sama!" A soldier called from outside the training room.

"Yes! What is it?"

"Someone has established a transmission and has asked for you."

"Tell them to wait. I'm in the training room, after all."

"Sir, it's your wife."

"What! Why didn't you say so earlier?" He sprung up and sprinted out the door.

A few moments later, the people left behind looked at each other.

"Is the training over for now, then?" Gohan asked.

Dr. Arufuredo adjusted his glasses. "I suppose so."

Vegita growled. "Who cares about that anymore? Who the Hell is going to get the food _now_?"

"Maybe Atsarute-sama will return with something later," Toniko noted, "She's not far off, after all. I think she just went to train alone again."

"Then let's go get her," Vegita rose, but Goku gestured otherwise.

"Vegita," he said, smiling while sweat drops traveled down his temples, "It's best not to bother Atsarute while she's training."

Vegita gave his rival a glare. "And why is that, Kakarotto?"

"Trust me on this one."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Atsarute entered of her own accord later, telling them that there was a meal ready just outside. But instead of sticking around, she went back to a private training chamber and locked herself in again, and one would not have waited long before hearing the sounds of training emanating from within. Derosen soon returned himself, and knocked on her door.

"Atsa! You're being summoned for communication!"

A growl came from behind the metallic slab. "Who is it?"

"The High Lord of Karigo-sei, Sanatoasu. I think he wants to have a training session with you soon."

There was a pause. "I'll be right there." The door soon opened and she stepped out, still fidgeting with her normal hide gi. "Didn't you say earlier that your wife is on Karigo-sei right now?"

"Yeah, I was just talking to her."

"Oh really? How is she?"

He blushed a bit. "She had some good news for me."

"Hmm?" Atsarute blinked, then grinned herself. "You're _kidding_!"

"Nope. She's 5 weeks pregnant."

"5 weeks? And you said that she left 4 weeks ago." She sniggered. "Geez, you never give her any rest, do you?"

"More like she never gives _me_ any rest, if you know what I mean."

"Wow, this will be number three, right? How are your other brats, by the way?"

"Their doing fine, but you'd better hurry. You know how Sanatoasu hates waiting."

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it. Do me a favor and don't tell Mother your good news until I leave. I don't feel like getting nagged about not getting married yet again." She ran off.

Derosen sighed and glanced over at the now-empty table. "Well, if you guys are finished, do you want to continue the training?"

"Derosen-sama," Toniko spoke up, "You said that was Lord Sanatoasu asking for Atsarute-sama?"

"Yes, why?"

"I just think its kind of strange for Atsarute-sama's _other_ prophesized suitor to contact her so soon after her fight with Kenturion."

_Other suitor?_ Piccolo consciously kept himself from cringing. _That must be the other one she talked about when she was Jin, the one that she said was okay to spar with… _and his mind added, _though I still don't know what it means if Kenturion isn't actually as much of a jerk as she said he was…_

Derosen shrugged. "Well, they both care for her, so I guess it shouldn't be too surprising that they both want to see her immediately to make sure she's all right after so long of being gone."

Toniko then mumbled something to herself under her breath in Namekku-go, intending not to be heard, "Why don't Atsarute and Sanatoasu just go ahead get married, anyway? Everyone knows that they already had sex…"

She didn't seem to notice that Piccolo was within Namekkian listening distance. He smacked his forehead. _Okay, this is just getting ridiculous!_

* * *

Okay, so I reverted back to the 2000 words length, plus not much happened except implied things. But it was _fast_ atleast!  



	29. Declaration

Disclaimer: Over herez! Over herez! Arkitekt skit! -points to chapter 2-

Hoookay. I believe that last chapter gave mixed signals, ne? I couldn't help but chuckle at Jin being called a slut. I even entertained briefly saying something like "OH, you did NOT just call Jin a slut!" for humor's sake, but I digress. It's chapter time.

* * *

Tossing aside his pride and his previous humiliation, Piccolo did the only thing that he felt he could do in his situation: he disjoined the training group and went after Atsarute. He could sense that she had already reached the palace before he even set off, but it didn't matter. He was going to get answers to all these stupid questions _somehow_, and he didn't care if he interrupted her conversation with this Lord. 

Throughout his flight, he ran situation after situation over again in his head, trying to make sense of it so that he would at least know which question to ask _first_. He wasn't having much luck; he had spent so much mental energy trying to _avoid_ the topic that he had little left to actually _assess_ it. _At the very least, I at least know enough to not make myself into too much of a fool to her._

His landing in the royal courtyard was quick before he sprinted into the castle, bumping into people in the more populated main floor while searching for Atsarute's ki. _It's like looking for a needle in a fucking haystack; her whole family has huge power like her. She should be in that room with the machine again… I think that I remember where that is. _He ran up steps and bolted down halls before he felt he was coming close.

That's when he almost bashed into his father.

He stopped just before Piccolo Sr., who looked wide-eyed back at him, surprised to see his son in such a manner. "What's with you?"

"What's with me?" The younger growled back. "What's with you! What are you doing here? I thought you stayed back on Katatsu-sei to speak with Mollosuki."

"Goku brought me over here as demonstration a little earlier to show his Instantaneous Movement off through the Three Twenty-two. I'm surprised you didn't notice earlier."

_I must have been too busy **avoiding** everyone to notice,_ Piccolo groaned in his own head. "Where's Atsarute? With the Three Twenty-two?"

"Hmm? Yes, she is. Talking to some guy… Lord Sanatoasu or something like that. Why?"

"I need to speak with her immediately."

"Oh?" The older man sniggered and crossed his arms smugly. "Immediately, is it? Don't tell me… you've _just_ admitted to yourself that you _still_ love her. Hmm? Am I right?"

"Damnit, old man!" he barked back at his father, "How can I _still_ love her after we've been apart for _almost 20 years_! I haven't even _thought_ about her for ten years… twelve if you count when I was in the Room of Space and Time."

Piccolo Sr. sighed. _I guess I shouldn't expect the impossible here. There's no way he'd admit it._

There was a long pause before Piccolo continued softly, "Besides… it'd be more accurate to say that I fell in love with her _again_."

"Huh?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Toniko nearly bashed into Neil when he stopped running right in front of her. Training had recommenced, and the chamber's landscape began to mutate rapidly again, with its weather once again staggered and unpredictable. Neil had stopped briefly for rest, relieved that he managed to land on a calm square of area. He must have stood there two full minutes before the ground under him churned again and signaled for him to go for the run again.

The girl Namek, however, didn't get much time to contemplate his sudden stop; she had to quickly get around him and continue her sprint when her own step threatened to knock her over.

Arufuredo tossed up his Atlas Orb and quickly pulled his glasses from his face and wiped them on his jacket for the first time since starting the session. Steam, water, dust, and whatever else kept getting on the lenses, clouding his vision quickly. Instead of cursing in annoyance the situation and angrily wiping it off as he had the last session, he accepted it as a hindrance to train on.

He quickly replaced the spectacles over his nose and felt the crushing weight of the Atlas Orb crash back down on his back. A sneer came to his face, but he had no time to dally on the spot that he had briefly stopped; the ground turned again and he had to, once again, go on the run. With his vision clear now, however, he looked around. _Now, who is missing?_ In the distance, he could see both Neil and Toniko hopping around, but there was no third Namekku-sei-jin like there was before. _Piccolo-sama has left again? _"Oi! Derosen-sama!"

Derosen looked up from the console, looking terribly bored. "Huh?"

"Did Piccolo-sama return to the palace?"

"Piccolo-sama? Oh, you mean that other Namek. Yeah, he said it was urgent for him to speak with my sister."

"Urgent?"

"Yeah. I don't know what that was about. He's one of the stronger among you guys, right? Maybe he's just gotten cocky and decided that he could spar with her instead of do the basic training with you guys."

The exchange of words reached Gohan. Something suddenly began to bother him, like he was stricken with an itch in the back of his head, and the abruptness made him unprepared for the hard blast of wind that assaulted him. He was thrown sideways, hitting the far wall of the room with a loud thud.

"Gohan!" Videl dropped her Atlas Orb and without delay ran to accompany her boyfriend. "Are you all right?"

Derosen sighed and flipped some switches. A plot of land with a decent circumference around Gohan stopped moving and the weather in that area calmed down.

"Ite!" The young half-Saiya-jin cried, rubbing the side of his head. "I should really watch what I'm doing."

"Did you get hurt?" Videl asked.

"No… I'm fine. But, I got this weird feeling."

"Eh?"

Gohan rose and picked up his sphere. "Well, Piccolo-san came over here to find the cure for that thing he had, and he found it. But something… I don't know. Something seems wrong."

"Do you think that she didn't heal him completely?"

"Iie, he's healed, but it has to do with Atsarute-san. There's something about her; it's like her shadow is _heavy_... I feel that something _bad_ is going to happen."

Among the copious, warm drops, Videl felt a single bead of cold sweat roll down her temple at the grim oracle.

"What really worries me," Gohan said, "is that it seems to get heavier when Piccolo-san's near her."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"In friendship, we snapped right back to where we left off. When we were catching up, it was just like when we talked back in North Capital on Earth. Her attitude since then didn't change a bit. But… but after she told me what happened that Valentine's Day, I realized that I was falling for her again," Piccolo summarized.

His father looked at him in astonishment. "And you're _confessing_ it?"

The younger man grumbled. "Well, I tried to ignore it at first, but her damned suitors keep snapping me into jealousy. I can't help it."

"Her suitors?"

A door opened, and Atsarute stepped out, her arms crossed and eyes closed, looking deep in thought as she walked towards the Piccolos' direction.

"Atsarute, have you finished your conversation already?" Piccolo Sr. said.

"Yeah. I'll be setting off immediately."

The younger man felt a small panic come over him. "Setting off?"

"You didn't expect me to baby-sit you and your silly friends while you trained, did you? I'm going off by ship to Karigo-sei to drop off some goods. After that, I'll be going elsewhere and I do not plan on returning to Sui-sei for some time."

"Do you intend to go alone?" Piccolo said, forcing his voice to stay calm and not stammer.

"Probably. Why?"

"Please let me come with you."

The request earned a stare from both of them for Piccolo. "Are you sure you want to leave with me, Piccolo?" Atsarute said.

"Positive."

"But you'll be leaving your friends behind, who, if you recall, came all the way from _your_ universe to retrieve you."

"Do you think I care?"

She kept the air of uncertainty, but she nodded anyway. "Fine. You may accompany me."

His father tightened his brows. "Piccolo, think about what you're saying. My father told me about what Atsarute does and where she goes when she leaves like this. You may very well not return."

"This is my decision," Piccolo said coolly, "and I'm sticking by it."

"But it's a _hasty_ decision. As much as I have to commend the thought, it's unlike you to go ahead on something without much forethought like this."

"I'm going to have the cargo loaded," Atsarute interrupted, resuming her pace down the hall, "You take this time to think about whether or not you really want to come with me."

The two men were silent until she had disappeared down the steps, and the older man resumed his tone. "Look, it's one thing to admit your feelings to yourself about her, but it's another thing to go running off without thinking after her!"

"I have to go! Do you realize that the Sanatoasu she's planning to see is one of her suitors?"

The comment made him pause to think a moment. "I see… but with the way she is about marriage, why should you be so concerned?"

"Sanatoasu apparently already had sex with her."

There was another pause, this time much longer. "You better hurry and help her pack the cargo on the ship, then. Your stuff is already on her ship, right? So, you don't have to stop to pick anything up. Hayaku! You don't have time to say goodbye to the others!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Derosen stopped the training early, mainly because he was tired of watching a bunch of _lesser_ fighters jumping around with balls on their backs. He parted, saying that he would send in a soldier later to man the console. Besides that, he felt that it would be more productive to take over the Three Twenty-two and speak to his pregnant wife.

Granted a period of rest, even the most bullheaded and ego-driven of warriors (viz. Vegita) slumped outside and relaxed their muscles. A few struck up conversations, but most of them just leaned against the training chamber's outer walls or lay on the grass.

And now they were able to confirm that Piccolo and Atsarute's ki have left the planet.

The itching feeling didn't leave Gohan; it only got more irritating. During the training, he was able to ignore it, but now he fidgeted and squirmed from the uncomfortable feeling it gave him. "Otou-san?"

Goku turned his head to his son. "What is it, Gohan?"

"Did you notice it, too? The weight of Atsarute-san's shadow?"

"Yeah," Goku said in a somber tone, which was quite unusual for him to take, "I felt it even back when I first saw her in that cage. I thought that it had to do with her killing so many people at first, but when I saw it react with Piccolo's presence…"

"What do you think it is?"

"I don't know… I'm surprised that Piccolo didn't notice it himself," Goku sighed, "Gohan, tell me. When she's quiet and not moving for a long time, have you heard a weird sound come from her?"

"A weird sound?"

"Like her shadow is _breathing_, or something like that?"

Gohan shook his head. "I never heard such a thing. Did you?"

"Yeah. I was surprised that no one else ever seemed heard it. It was pretty loud when she still had that talisman in her throat."

"Why didn't you mention it before?"

"I thought it had to do with that curse that she was talking about, and it seemed to disappear after Piccolo helped her remove that talisman. I figured out later that it really only got a lot quieter."

"Hmm…" Gohan bowed his head.

"Is it bothering you that much?" Videl asked, still breathing heavily from the training.

Gohan nodded. "I can't help it. I _know_ that something bad is going to happen. I can feel it."

* * *

Room of Space and Time – The English name for this is "Hyperbolic Time Chamber", I believe.  
I got exactly 2007 words in this one, which is less than most of my chapters, but it fulfills my personal 2000 word minimum. I can't put in more because jumping so quickly to the next situation would be undesirable (personally, I think that putting in the last bit of analysis from Gohan and Goku was pushing it).  
Still fast, though. Yayz. 


	30. Travel Companions

Disclaimer: FUNi pwned me. It's in chapter two.

Heh heh, yeah I knew what you meant Ace. I'm just messing around. :P My A/Ns are crazier than the contents of my stories, sometimes. Give me an inch; I take a mile, yadda yadda. I better shut up before I sound more deranged than I really am as well.

* * *

The first order of business after lift off seemed to be to laugh at Uwaki's head that Piccolo still had in the storage box, quickly followed by drinking and smoking. 

"I still can't believe that you had the _nerve_ to kill those bastards and not leave anything for me." She tapped the ashes from her roll onto a plate beside her chair, which looked almost like a couch in the way it was reclined. "I would have _loved_ to ring Shuran's neck, even if it _has_ been years."

Piccolo was sitting as he usually did on the ground about 2 meters away from her. "Heh, sorry. I didn't even remember them when I killed them. I just remembered that I hated them. Plus, I was too busy trying to get out of the mania. You understand, right?"

"Oh sure, sure. I understand. I guess I can't complain too much. Your life over on Earth has been a royal pain in the ass in comparison to mine. One problem after another, and dying twice."

He chuckled. "You say that as if you had no worries. Lately its hard to see anything of you that doesn't involve your duties."

"That's because I've been gone without setting anything up, so I've had to catch up with all the things that I've missed. I've taken long vacations from it many times. I've told you that."

"Your vacations consist mostly of training."

"I wouldn't think of that as being all that surprising."

"I suppose not." A pause took place afterwards. _I guess it's now or never._ "Atsarute, what is the deal with Kenturion? You said that he was the one with the attitude problem, but I could see clearly when you bumped into him that he wasn't." He had more questions concerning Kenturion, but he thought it best to not bring up the dream.

She gave a slow exhale and looked to the side, the lines of humor erased from her face. "He used to be that way. When I first told you about my suitors, he still was. Such a spoiled brat. But… I guess the best way to say it is that he grew out of it. He keeps a charade up because I asked him to."

"But why?"

"_Mother_," she growled, "She's always bothering me to marry, but, luckily, she hates both of my prophesized suitors, otherwise she would bother me even more. She hates Kenturion because of that haughty attitude, so he keeps it up in front of her."

"Why does she dislike Sanatoasu?"

Atsarute shrugged. "How should I know? She decides to hate people on the weirdest things. He probably just rubbed her the wrong way several years ago and she hasn't forgiven him."

Another gap in the conversation sprung up, and Piccolo sorted through his questions. He couldn't fully form his next question in his head before she spoke first, "Why did you come with me, anyway?"

Piccolo twitched a bit, but then resolved in his head that this might be the best way to continue the dialogue. "I panicked."

"Panic? That sounds like an excuse."

"Heh. For what? I panicked because of how events have gone so far."

"And what about that would make you panic? You're healed; I'm healed. We're all good."

Piccolo hesitated before continuing, "I heard something about you and Sanatoasu."

"And what did you—" Then it seemed to strike her, "—Uh… I…"

"It really did happen, didn't it?"

She turned her body fully away from the Namek. "It was a long time ago."

"So, it was only once?"

"…Twice actually."

He felt a pang, but continued undaunted. "Do you love him?"

"No!" She spun around into a sitting position and glared down at Piccolo.

"Then why?"

"Hormones! Emotions! Lots of stupid little things, gnawing away at me at once!" Atsarute made a low, defensive growl. Despite it, Piccolo rose and approached her. Her snarls grew louder, and when he stopped before her, she snapped her teeth at him, then crossed her arms and closed her eyes, taking a calmer (but still angry) look on her face.

He put a hand on each of her shoulders. Her eyelids twitched as she kept herself from abiding her reflexes to open her eyes from the contact. The two were completely still for several moments before she pressed the lit blunt onto his hand. He jumped backwards and stared straight at her, defensively pulling the damaged hand away from the afflicter. She seemed eerily still, she didn't even seem to be breathing; the only movement coming from her was the smoke emitting from the now slightly bent cigarette. The expression on her face was blocked by her bangs, rendering it unreadable.

At length, the general brought the blunt back up to her lips and took a hit from it. "Can I ask you some questions, Piccolo?" Smoke poured from her mouth as she spoke.

He looked down at the slight burn mark (which really _was_ slight; not much more than a slight darkening of skin since his green hide was hard to damage) and nodded. "I believe you have sufficient right to."

To his surprise, she leaned back and took on a smug grin. "Do such questions actually hold an importance?"

"Well, they hold importance to me."

"And the way you phrased it, it seems to me that hearing about what Sanatoasu and I have done was the event, or at least among the events, that caused you to panic. Am I correct?"

"Yes."

Atsarute chuckled slightly to herself and put out her cigarette in the tray beside her. "And you came with me because I'm going to see him before running off on my own?"

"…I wouldn't go that far, Atsarute. It has more to do with your not coming back after seeing him. I've been wanting to talk with you a lot since our 'reunion'."

"Ah, I see… I have one last question, Piccolo."

"Sure."

"Does Dorai still love Jin?"

He sat for a moment in silence then grinned back at her. "How could someone who never existed love? Especially when the person they're supposed to love also doesn't exist."

"Hmm?" Atsarute gave a stunned look before she began laughing again. "I've forgotten that you actually have some wit to you, Piccolo. Okay, so 'Dorai' and 'Jin' are just a couple of fictional characters in an old love story." She picked up her bottle and took a swig from it before wiping her chin and replacing the glass container back on the floor. "That's fine by me; I'm satisfied. Now, next conversation…"

"How about that song… 'Nothing More Dangerous', I think it was called?"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"These are the things Sanatoasu wanted, right?" Atsarute kicked the crate in front of her closer to the soldier. The man fidgeted before peeking at the contents and making a tentative nod of approval before motioning others to take it away.

"Uhh…" The man seemed incredibly anxious around Atsarute. "Lord Sanatoasu wishes to speak with you."

"I would prefer to speak with my sister-in-law."

"Atsarute-sama, please. She is quite busy at the moment. Besides, our lord wishes to spar with you as he had in the past."

"Well… okay. I suppose one sparring session wouldn't hurt." She looked back at Piccolo, who was doing his best to not sulk. "Wanna come, Piccolo? You might be overpowered early, but a good, three-way battle would do us all some good, I think."

"I guess it would be better than just sitting around this place." He was referring to the landscape of Karigo-sei, which, although it certainly had interesting vegetation and a wondrous horizon in the distance, it had black, sandy ground that seemed to stick like soot and whirled up into the air without much effort. It didn't take long to annoy him.

The soldier escorted the pair into the lord's mansion and gestured the Namek to stay behind in the main room as he brought the general to his lord. Piccolo reluctantly sat and waited, now trying to amuse himself with the decorations of the inner walls. "At least this guy's taste isn't too terrible; it's better than what Son and his wife do to their house, for sure." He scanned over the sculptured walls and the tall paintings, trying to figure out what they were depicting. _Probably something that happened in their history,_ he reasoned, since they were mostly of Karigo-sei-jin fighting amongst themselves.

He didn't have to wait long, though. He could hear Atsarute's voice, along with another's, approaching from down the hall she was lead earlier. They appeared before long; Atsarute and a man with copper-toned skin, dark eyes, and long, black hair that was tied back and bound in something similar to a chonmage. His clothing looked to be a mesh of black silk robes and chrome paladin armor.

When the man saw him, he extended his hand in greeting and smiled. "Ah! You must be Piccolo-sama from Katatsu-sei. I'm Sanatoasu. Atsarute has said a bit about you and suggested that the three of us spar together." He walked out ahead of them. "Come. I'll take you to the grasses. It's better to spar there since there's so much room and the dust doesn't blow up in the eyes."

Atsarute turned to Piccolo. "Would you prefer with or without weapons?"

"Without is fine."

"Heh," Sanatoasu began, "That's not as fun as when you have lots of things, but if you drop out first, Piccolo-sama, I'm sure you won't mind if Atsarute and I continue _with_ weapons."

"Why would I care?"

"That's good." Then there was little sound between the three outside of their own footsteps before the lord stopped suddenly and looked back at them. "There are… only two of you, correct?"

Atsarute raised a brow. "Yes, why?"

He shrugged and continued forward. "It's nothing. I just thought I heard a third person breathe or something a second ago. Must've been my imagination."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

As Sanatoasu predicted, Piccolo dropped out of the sparring session first, but it wasn't out of exhaustion. Instead, he found that he was more interested in watching them fight instead of trying his own skills against them. Their techniques intrigued him, and he felt more inclined to study them than test them.

Atsarute was much more serious with Sanatoasu in the beginning than she was with Kenturion; her blows were much more precise, and her techniques were applied even more heavily. Piccolo came to realize what her main point tended to lay: disorienting the opponent. He supposed that it had to do with her being a general, and such an attribute is invaluable in tactics for her men to gain an advantage. Her movements were full of deceptive flashes and spins, making it hard to keep one's eye on her even if she wasn't going particularly fast. He imagined that if they had been fighting on dirt instead of turf, that sandy-substance would be whirling around them, upset into Sanatoasu's eyes by the general herself.

Despite her techniques, however, Sanatoasu seemed largely unfazed. Between the two, Atsarute seemed to be having much more trouble, whereas he seemed to be purely enjoying himself.

The two used several different weapons that were supplied for them against each other, but had resolved to swordplay. Atsarute gradually got more aggressive, starting to gain an indigent air in her offence. Sanatoasu kept his cool, though, parrying her calmly and dodging when necessary, before going into his own attack. Swings were exchanged, and the two kept the other at a distance for some time, but he eventually began to over power her.

He forced her back from another met blow, and, seemingly without reason, small streams of blood shot out from newly made cuts on her skin. She didn't show any pain, but her stamina was dropping; her chest rose and fell sharply with each breath, and sweat hung off her brow like it had just rained. She made another lunge for Sanatoasu, but he instantly disappeared and appeared behind her, his blade at her throat.

"I believe this is what they call 'checkmate', dear Atsa." He said, triumph slipping into his voice along with a hint of… amorousness? The inflections alarmed Piccolo greatly. He strained his eyes on the blade that brushed lightly on her neck and his ears on his voice that he kept at a volume meant to be heard only by Atsarute.

"Your fighting is still quite desperate against me, even though we only spar. I told you, again and again, that I would not have a wedding fight against you because you do not wish it. I won't force you into marriage… no matter how much I might care for you. Atsa… Heh. You're still quite sensitive, aren't you? You don't mind being seen naked, and you can take any sort of harshness against your skin, but if it's done softly, perhaps with fondness behind it, you squirm away as quickly as you can. That's why, isn't it? Why you fear those Namekku-sei-jin boy schools, and why you fear losing to me…"

Atsarute clenched her hand tightly around her sword and spun around. "_Ha!_" Her slice cut through the air and into his neck below the chin, and his head flew off and onto the ground. The surprising action was trumped by Sanatoasu's knee burying into her ribs, causing her to double over as his body walked over, bent down, and picked up the head, replacing it on his shoulders.

"_Still_ with the decapitation," Sanatoasu sighed, "I swear, that seems to be your favorite method of killing since you get a nice trophy out of it. You've tried so many times to do that with me, that I got tired of you cutting my hair in the process each time, so I bind it up whenever you come." He smiled. "Other than that, it's really no pain to me, Atsa. You know that."

"Damnit!" She gasped with her bruised diaphragm, "Damnit, damnit, damnit! After all this time… all this fucking work… I _still_ can't defeat you!" She tried to stand up, but found the effort too painful and fell to her side and rolled onto her back, still gulping for air.

Piccolo could no longer stand by the sidelines and came to her side. "Do you need help?"

"—No!" Atsarute pushed out, "I don't need anything! Nothing is broken or ruptured! I'm fine!"

"Well…" The lord put the weapons back into their chest and called for a soldier to move them back into the mansion. "I trust that you two can find your way back to your ship. I'm not about to scratch on Atsa's pride by offering her a hand in something as simple as walking. Take care." And he was gone.

Piccolo looked back down on her. "He calls you 'Atsa' as well?"

She laughed a bit and winced as she pulled herself to a sitting position. "You shouldn't be able to say that you're surprised."

"I'm not."

Atsarute yanked herself up and stood, half-heartedly making a straight posture before starting to walk in a dragging pace. "Well, we're done here. Let's go."

* * *

Chonmage – A traditional Japanese male hairstyle (often called a "top-knot" by English-speakers) that is now usually worn only by Sumo wrestlers. Traditionally, one would shave part of his head, but I couldn't imagine that Sanatoasu would.  
I got a Wacom tablet! **_Woohoo!_**  
This means the next fanfic picture that I'm going to draw will be much quicker. So send in requests, already! The link for the voting will follow soon after. :)  



	31. Underneath the Skin

Disclaimer: I'm tired…. Go to that… chaaapteerrr twooozzzzzzzzZZZzzzZzzz….

I think I have around 8 "devoted" readers to this story (at least, that's what I gather from the "hits" stats). I'd have to say, even if you kids don't all review, you have to be pretty good to stick with my wicked mind and how it twists things around, especially for so long.

* * *

"You're sure that nothing is broken?" Piccolo looked down at Atsarute skeptically. She had collapsed earlier onto the floor after putting in a new destination on the computer, and didn't bother to get herself up. Instead, she decided to lay there, with her hand sitting over the injured spot, as if shielding it. 

Her eyes opened and looked back at him with dissatisfaction. "I said I'm fine. It's just some bruising. The bastard managed to hurt my chest wall, so now I'm getting some PVCs and my breathing is shallow. It's just a little annoying and I'll have to stay level until it passes."

"And how long will that be?"

"Oh, who the Hell knows? It doesn't matter; it'll probably be a while before we arrive, anyway." She grumbled a little bit and closed her eyes again.

Piccolo didn't move. "You didn't tell me where we're going this time."

Atsarute let a sneer go across her face, but her eyes didn't open again. "A colonized moon that's covered entirely by city. Because it doesn't have a government, per say, outside of some gangs, it doesn't have a name. It's pretty much known as the moon of the planet that it orbits. I'm going there to get some trading done."

"I see…" The Namek renounced his position and went for a chair, setting himself in and pulling over an alien liquor.

The general tightened her brow. "Aren't you going to meditate?"

"I still have some other things to talk about."

A growl came from her. "If you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly in the talking mood."

"That's fine. It'll probably be me talking mostly anyway."

"I can't promise that I'll be listening."

Piccolo scoffed and took a sip before starting. "I would like to know first, though… was Sanatoasu's behavior also an act? Like Kenturion?"

"No. He's really like that." She heaved a bit. "Though I think he gave you the wrong impression."

"How?"

She made another annoyed sound before continuing, not wanting to talk anymore than necessary. "That guy is so pure hearted… he doesn't lie. You heard what he said, when he had the blade to my throat. It was all true. But sometimes he has some naïveté concerning whether or not he should say the truth. Because of that, the things that he says tend to be blatant and sometimes even crude."

Piccolo opened his mouth to comment against it, but closed it when he compared the behavior to Son Goku, and realized that the two weren't all that off in that sense. He frowned and shifted to one side. "His attitude concerning _you_, however… you're going to have a hard time convincing me that he's pure in that sense."

Atsarute groaned. "The sad thing is he's actually _incredibly_ pure in that sense. It's not like he doesn't get aroused; he does. Purity has nothing to do with the suppression of natural instincts. But the thing in particular he talked about and likes…" She stopped and put a hand on her forehead. "Okay. That's enough. Most of the pain has subsided and the PVCs are gone for now. I'm going to do something productive." She leaned forward and sat herself up.

Piccolo crossed his arms. "You're not going to get out of it, Atsarute. Tell me what it was that he was talking about."

She glared back at him in an almost puerile manner, her upturned lip almost a pout. "Puroeriun scales are small in comparison to many creatures, but, while folded, offer incredible protection against offensive blows and absorb and distribute a lot of shock. However, when we are touched in an opposite way, like that of _pleasure_, so to speak," she said the word "pleasure" in an almost demeaning tone, "our scales ruffle and fall around the affected area.

"When they do this, they produce a sound that is often pleasing to the ear. The sound is so minute, however, that few races can actually hear it. Puroeriun can hear it and even feel it sometimes if the humidity is high or if they're in the water. Races like Karigo-sei-jin and Namekku-sei-jin _also_ hear it because their auditory systems are sufficiently advanced."

Piccolo raised a brow. "So he does those things to you because he likes the sound?"

"Eh, I guess you can say it like that. It's really a combination of the sound and how _I_ react to it." Her chin rested on her standing knee and she wrapped an arm around it. "The thing is, I'm not used to the feeling I get when my scales ruffle and fall. I'm used to them flattening out and gripping down when in battle to protect me. But when they do that… _gah_… it just makes me feel _vulnerable_. Like someone can reach into my muscle and bone when it happens."

A small shock of victory came into Piccolo's senses. He just got her to tell him something incredibly personal about herself. "It bothers you that much?"

"Yeah. That's the reason I freaked out earlier when you touched my side out of the blue, and why I panic around those horny Namek boys. I think Sanatoasu gets a kick out of it, though. I enjoy sparring with him, but damnit, whenever he strokes my neck with the blade like that, I get pissed off each time."

The empty bottle clanged on the floor when it was set down. "Do you realize you just did the majority of the talking, Atsarute? You weren't even the one doing the drinking."

"Meh. I'll probably regret it later. Right now, I don't give a damn. I can't help but enjoy talking to you."

He smiled; then an idea came to mind and it into a mischievous smirk. He moved effortlessly quickly to Atsarute's side. She scarcely had time to turn her head to him when he gently scratched his nail against the nape of her neck. Her eyes shot wide and her jaw clenched, but a soft sound came. _Ssssshhhhh…_

"Sounds like a rain-stick," Piccolo commented.

"Wh-wh-what are you doing!" Atsarute's hand shot up to shield the place on her neck. A thick blush was forming across her face.

"That time before, you were making so much noise, I didn't hear it."

"So you decided that you could just come up and touch me without my permission!"

Since she didn't recoil too far yet, Piccolo reached out and did it again, this time against the arm that was trying to shield her. The sound faintly rippled through the air again. When she gave some sort of squawk and clambered away from him, he chuckled to himself. "I see why they find it so amusing now."

Atsarute recalled with a bustle of insults, most of which were in languages that Piccolo didn't understand. He didn't pay them any mind and continued to "scratch" at her, honestly fascinated by her flaring anger over the embarrassment and by the intriguing noise made by her scales.

"_Quit quit quit quit quit quit quit! **Yamero!**_" She pronounced rapidly, her demands turning more childish than intimidating as she scuttled away from the Namek. The retreat ended at her console chair, where she turned back at him and made another attempt at reclaiming a menacing demeanor against him with a sharp glare and a toothy snarl, summoning another animalistic gnarr from her throat.

A light on the console behind her flashed, and a sound rang through the room. Her head shot around. "Huh? A real-time feed request." She reached back and flipped a switch.

"Atsarute-sama!" One of her soldiers appeared on screen. "I'm sorry to disturb your business, but we just received a transmission that you really must see immediately!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

To go through training is often compared to going through Hell, and the fatigue that follows such trials of one's constitution can put a man out faster than a wrecking ball to the jaw. This being said, it shouldn't be unheard of for those who went through the "basic training" to all be in heavy, dreamless sleep.

Well, the sleep was dreamless for _most_.

Neil tossed and turned in nightmares that he couldn't quite comprehend. Before, the one who had the nightmares was Piccolo while they were under the influence of the mania. They were all afflicted with it, but since his mind and body was in dominance, and he was the one that wanted separation the most, the morbid dreams latched onto him. But now, Neil was the lone soul of the body, and the dreams pounded upon him. And the horror his mind was being subject to was a single antagonist.

It was a killer without substance; he could not possibly find a way to combat it. It tore through everyone he knew back on Namekku-sei, leaving behind only dismembered and gory corpses, purple staining the grass under them. At first, he thought the creature was Freeza, or some sort of manifestation of him, but its ki was not Freeza's. Whose it was, however, was a mystery; he had never felt it before.

The worst part of the dream is that he _knew_ it was a dream, but he was unable to change it or pull himself out. The creature confused and dulled his mind so that he couldn't figure out how to change the dream, and he was so tired from the training that the heavy weight of fatigue kept him from escaping into consciousness.

He was completely under the thing's mercy.

But it never attacked him in murdering intent. It would whiz past, perhaps knick his arm a bit, but nothing more. When it seemed to have killed all other life on Namekku-sei before him, it stopped and sat before him, appearing as a mere absence of light on the ground.

"So you've got nothing left?" Neil scoffed bitterly, "Aren't you going to kill me now?"

It didn't answer. The only sound coming from it was its abnormal breathing.

"You won't kill me. Is it because I'll wake up when you do? Then you'll cease to exist?"

Nothing.

"You're what exists in Atsarute's shadow; I know it! I don't know why so few people can see you, and why only Goku can hear you. But you're latched onto Atsarute, and your goal… it has to do with Piccolo, doesn't it?"

It still didn't "speak", but somehow it projected to him, _You won't be able to interfere. No one will be able to interfere. My wrath will assume completion._

"But why do you appear before _me_?" he bellowed.

Screams rang again from behind. He circled to see… more Namekku-sei-jin. This time, however, these were not natives of Namekku-sei; these were women of Katatsu-sei. More particularly, they were Toniko and Mollosuki. Both looked like they were dragged through the gore-soaked ground, with cakes of purple-brown mud on their skin and clothing.

_Damnit! I don't care if this is just a dream! I don't want them to get killed too!_ Neil approached them slowly, thinking that maybe if he's near, it will keep away.

"Stay back!" Toniko shouted, making him pause his step. "Don't come any closer!"

He furrowed his brow. "Toniko!"

"Listen to us! Don't come here! No matter what!" Mollosuki cried. "_No matter what!_"

"You don't understand!" He yelled back to them. "It'll kill you if I don't go there! It won't harm me! I promise!"

They both shook their heads and repeated their begging requests. The thing now swept around them, making shallow cuts in their skin as it hissed by. He couldn't stand it. He had to come to them. He advanced reached them, wrapping his arms around both of them.

The spray of blood instantly met his face, and their bodies slumped forward into him, the grotesque rip lengthwise through their bodies causing them to fall into four separate, grisly pieces onto the ground.

I wouldn't have killed them if you didn't come to them. The test is complete. My wrath will assume completion.

The sight before him put him over the edge, and he ran upwards for escape, finally breaking through and pulling himself out of the slumber and up, now sitting erect in his bed.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The woman on the screen was young and beautiful. Piccolo met her before, but not when she was in this state. Of this youthful state, he had only seen a picture, something that was supposed to be a memory of what was.

Komugiko-joou was young again.

Atsarute couldn't help but scoff, curious as to what made that queen change her mind of holding celibacy until her capture, and wondered what bloke would have agreed to marry her.

"General Atsarute has returned in full force!" The queen declared, standing before her throne while radiating her own glow of charisma. "There is no way I can simply sit and watch any longer! Therefore, I have decided to take back my strength and supplement our forces with one motion!"

Atsarute chuckled at the recording. "Shoulda' done that sooner. Crazy bitch. She must have married one of my enemies."

"'One of your enemies'? Somehow, that seems like that could include a big number." Piccolo smirked.

"I won't deny that."

"I have seen through the streams," Komugiko's image continued, "the truth behind the haze that surrounds Atsarute's revival. Deception and intrigue have found their way here. Some of those among you have taken under betrayal and sided with the Puroeriun Empire. Because of this, Atsarute was able to escape and steal away peace."

A man harnessed in some of the most threatening-looking armor that Piccolo had ever seen (even more so than the demonic look Atsarute's had) joined Komugiko on stage. He looked more like some sort of war cyborg than an organic being, with spikes and jagged razors situated in his armor, with particularly huge and menacing ones on his shoulder plates (to be noted, each shoulder plate looked about 4 times the size of Piccolo's head, although the man himself looked like he would be about the same size as him without the armor). The man visibly emitted his ki, and the spikes and razor teeth churned and moved on the surface of the armor.

"Damn, that's one offensive-looking piece of equipment. What kind of armor is that, Atsarute?" He took his eyes from the recording to the woman beside him. However, she didn't answer him; she was focused on the man that came on with a serious look.

"Atsarute?" He called again.

"I have married this man, Funzen, who inherited a great army from his general father, a valiant man who died and had his corpse desecrated by the cruel hands of General Atsarute. With his force at our side, I promise that Atsarute's savage sadism will be brought to an end."

* * *

PVC – Premature Ventricular Contraction. They make your heartbeat irregular, pretty much making it feel like your heart's beating in triplets. Not to be confused with "polyvinyl chloride" (the plastic stuff).  
Yamero! – Stop!  
Funzen – Anger, indignation, rage, wrath.  
Okay, I bet a lot of you either forgot about Komugiko, or thought _I_ forgot about her.  
Oh yeah! Check out the OC character art page that I have the link to on my profile. I made a big update to it, including the art for Shuran, Molly, Toniko, and Atsarute, and I updated the summaries of later characters as well. 


	32. Determination

Disclaimer: Huh? Chap'a' two.

Ah, Germany. G'luck with studies and whatnot, Ace. Hope to see your word around the internet sometime again.

* * *

Atsarute reported back to her men that she would go to a branch base after she finished her business on her next stop. Afterwards, she holed herself up in her room, away from Piccolo. At first, he thought it was just because of the scale-teasing, but as he heard her rummaging through things, muttering frustrated curses in Sui-go while doing so, he came to believe that it had more to do with the broadcast by that queen and her new husband. 

She seemed to eventually find what she was looking for, and it grew quiet within, his ears only able to pick up the scratching of an ink pen on a piece of paper, along with the occasional tap of buttons on what he assumed was a computer. _She's plotting out something… but what?_ There was some more rustling of papers, particularly of what sounded like the opening of large scrolls and such. From time to time, he heard a feint muttering from her, but, once again, they were in Sui-go, and he couldn't understand a word of it.

_Well, I'm not finding out anything here,_ he thought to himself before withdrawing back into the main room and bringing himself into meditation. He didn't focus on anything, except making himself stronger. Constantly trying to improve himself, especially in the shadow of such huge energies, seemed to be his only method of keeping any sort of hold in this universe. To have _so many_ more people stronger than him, he found unacceptable.

It's hard to keep track of time once in meditation, but he surmised that it was at least five hours before Atsarute appeared on her own accord, and that was his signal to stop and take a rest. Looking at her hands, they looked raw, covered with ink and blood.

Atsarute could see the question that he wanted to ask, so she answered before he vocalized it. "I've been making strategic calculations for when my army goes against Funzen." She brought her hands up before her and looked down at them. "It appears that I've overdone it a bit."

"You're _already_ making calculations?" Piccolo stood from where he had been seated on the floor. "Isn't it a bit early? I doubt you even know where you're fighting or what kind of condition his forces are in."

"Which is why the calculations took so long. I've been considering every situation, starting with what I felt was the most likely."

"Are you going to wash and bandage you're hands? You're already nursing your bruises from Sanatoasu; you don't need an infection to go along with it."

She laughed. "I suppose you're right, but the PVCs have almost completely gone, and most of the pain has disappeared. It should be completely gone before we get to our next stop." The washroom wasn't far off, and she quickly washed and treated her hands before she rejoined Piccolo.

"If you even _think_ about doing that to my scales again," Atsarute warned, "I'll tear off your ears."

"That's an absurd threat, but I get the point," Piccolo scoffed, "You better not have forgotten; you said that you'd translate that song for me."

"Hmm? Oh yeah. I'll write it out for you sometime."

"Write it out? That's all?"

"Hell, Piccolo. There're a lot of verses to it since it's a folk song. No way am I going to recite the whole bloody thing for you. Besides, it sounds _really_ weird when it isn't in Sui-go. If it didn't, I would have sung it all the time back when I was living on Earth as Jin."

"Alright, fine. Still sounds like an excuse."

"Why do you want to know the lyrics so badly, anyway?"

"I'm curious. You're brother told me the first verse, and you hummed it all the time. I just want to figure out why."

"Because I'm a twisted individual. I'm going to check the ship's status then take a rest. You probably should go rest, too." She grinned. "If I feel any better tomorrow, I might make you train with me a bit."

And the training session that next day was rough for both of them. But neither was willing to show it, which was probably why it was as rough as it was. Piccolo wouldn't readily admit he was inferior in strength, and Atsarute wasn't about to let "a little chest pain" keep her back.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The broadcast was shown to the guests of the castle at Sui-sei. Arufuredo reclined in his chair, feeling the urge to smoke something for the first time in seven years. "Well, it's been decided. We can never go back home."

Another Pasuko-jin nodded. "We knew that this would eventually happen, but it still is very painful to have it realized like this."

The scientist took off his glasses and placed them in his pocket, looking up at the ceiling. "It can't be helped. We rebelled because we love our planet and our people. We know that, logically, the only way to help them is to join the enemy and defeat our queen."

The Earthlings couldn't help but feel some sympathy for their friends. They had been traveling with them all this time in this new universe, helping them the best they can to find someone that was an absolute stranger to them. Goku probably owed his life to the scientists' fast medical work on his throat when it was slashed out.

Bulma sat down beside Arufuredo (much to Vegita's dislike). "This must be really tough on you."

He glanced over at her and smiled. "If any one of us denied that, that man would be lying his ass off. But we've been prepared for it since we bound together and made the decision to be traitors to Queen Komugiko. Something like being tossed away by our family, our friends, our homeland… something like that is just another reason that we must succeed in our goal."

He brought a hand up and pulled his bangs back from his face. "At least, that's what we're telling ourselves right now; a load of nonsense that's being repeated to make us feel a little better about it mostly. But that's how we're supporting ourselves… by patting ourselves on the back."

A large silence fell over the room, but Arufuredo shook it off and looked over at Toniko, still smiling. "We don't need sympathy, but I can't help but to envy you Namekku-sei-jin. To belong to such a large intelligent race… with a mindset that never forgot where it came from… it must be nice."

"You're wrong," she answered.

Arufuredo's face changed to curiosity. "I beg your pardon?"

"It isn't that great. With overpopulation and the incredible gap in the ratio between males and females, we've suffered continuously for remembering our nature. Wars, struggles, famines…" She sighed and looked to the side. "We've even lost our native world because of it. I wish I could have seen it, but we left long before I was born."

Neil blinked. "I don't understand. Suraku said that what happened to Namekku-sei was the migration through the Red Stream."

"That has to do with it. But, to be more specific, the thing that caused the planet to drift from orbit around our star originally was the planet's population. Since sorcery was so ingrained in our culture, every Namekku-sei-jin is a magical creature, capable of a multitude of things. With such a large population of sorcerers, the extraneous energy began to cause havoc on the natural order, unsettling the planet's balance."

Bulma's eyes widened. "I see! Because of the energy, the horrible weather conditions started to arise and the stress and energy effected the polarity and made the planet escape from the gravity of its star."

She nodded and turned back to Arufuredo. "So you see, Arufuredo-san, not a single Namekku-sei-jin is any different from you. Even the ones born after migration like me, because we _are_ so close to our roots, feel it strongly."

Arufuredo heaved a breath. "Toniko-sama, you're a third generation Katatsu-sei-jin, right?"

"Yes. Why?"

"Nothing. Thank you, Toniko-sama. It's good to have people to tell us that we'll be all right."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Komugiko lowered the ribbon from before her. "I still think that now is a good time to strike against her. She's still not at a hundred percent, I can sense it through the streams, and if we wait too long, she'll have an _even larger_ force allied with her."

Her new husband shook his head. "So soon after regaining their general, the army is still upset and shaken. You might think that as a good thing, but it means that we'll have the biggest of her warriors against us in any battle that she prepares against us as a safe guard. At my army's current level, we wouldn't stand a chance against them."

"Then shouldn't we split them up by making several fronts? That way, your men won't be overpowered?"

"Also not acceptable. I don't have nearly enough manpower to make multiple threats at once against Atsarute, and we can't combine our armies effectively at this moment."

He sighed and paced over to his suit of armor, looking at his reflection in one of the large spikes. "We really should be counting our blessings since she hasn't struck against us immediately. Even though I can give her a good fight, I believe such an effort right now would be in vain."

The woman made a groan of frustration. "It seems that even with joint forces, we might never get to a position to rid the universe of that demon."

"Don't worry. Just give me enough time to merge our armies and train them. And if we keep patience, later a wonderful chance for us to exterminate her will arise, and we'll be there and ready to take advantage of it."

She frowned and tied the ribbon back around her neck. "But I have seen through the streams that she will gain a powerful ally with a force of manpower many times the size of her own. The streams do not lie. If we wait too long, we have to deal with that burden as well."

Funzen shrugged. "It does not signify if that force is 3 times her's in size or 300 times. What we need to worry about is occupying her own men while we bring the strike upon Atsarute. That is the only way that we can wipe her out once and for all."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Piccolo looked at his surroundings skeptically. "To say that a place like this has no name…"

"Well, I guess that isn't exactly true," Atsarute said, leading him down the sidewalk, "It actually has several names, each given by one of its many gangs, but since none of them have complete power and they're constantly at war with each other, there isn't a definitive, single name."

"Are the gangs here any different from those back on Earth?"

"Hmm… it's hard to say. In a lot of ways, they're very similar. The most noticeable characteristic that they differ from Earth's is their incredible strength. The bands on this particular planet, since there is no real law, have their economic base spread out in more than "illicit" practices and territory, though it does include it. They exact their own law and their own law forces. In a sense, you could say that, for a lawless society, it's pretty stable."

"So government is replaced with gang warfare? Can't say that it's much different. Even taxes are reminiscent of the practice of selling protection." The flashing signs reminded him a lot of the cities back on Earth, particularly North Capital. "So, are you going to go and continue some more business anytime soon?"

"Nah. I finished everything before I picked you up out of the ship and brought you out."

"What? Then why are we still here?"

"I wanted to enter a match in the local battle arena and I need someone I can trust with my money to bet on me in the match. That isn't too much trouble is it?"

"Why should I do such a—" Then some words clicked. "'Battle arena'?"

"That's what I said."

"As in that leather strap outfit battle arena?"

"Yeah. I want to test out the two prototypes the tailor designed." She pulled them out of a knapsack on her side and held them out before her. "Though I don't know which I should try. Perhaps I should find out what kind of creature I will be fighting against before I choose." A shrug lifted her shoulders as she frowned. "But I won't be able to test the other one immediately since I'll be leaving immediately after the fight."

Piccolo kept a stoic face as he looked to the sidewalk before him. "I'll do the betting for you, then."

"You will?"

He nodded. "I'll be able to watch you in the fight, right? I've been taking every opportunity possible to see your style, and this isn't an exception." He suppressed the smirk that went with the lie of his last statement.

* * *

Ah, with that last part said, it's hard not to imagine that, inside, Piccolo has a lecherous grin that could rival Miroku's. Whether or not that's the case is up to the interpretation of the reader…  
It's unknown, but hopefully, I'll be able to get another chapter out before school starts. We'll see, wont we? 


	33. Dirty World

Disclaimer: I haven't slept in… 30 hours. I know that has nothing to do with the chapter two.

The OC page, once again, is updated, this time with _Dorai_'s character art.

* * *

He forgot that lines were so cumbersome to stand and wait in. Not being one to engage in social activities, even in a universe where Namekku-sei-jin seemed to be everywhere, he kept himself away from crowds and chattering groups of people. It didn't matter to him, anyway. He wasn't much more than a murderous bandit for the past few months he'd been there; to make associations would probably be more harm than good. 

The line he was in was particularly annoying; there were several branching from the multitude of windows along the breadth of the box office, making his surroundings, effectively, a mass of chattering people, fiddling around with their pocket books and making guesses among themselves about their bets. If any of these men and women were Agoraphobic, they were dealing with it quite well.

But the only thing that _actually_ bothered Piccolo was the huge amount of money he held before him, given to him by Atsarute for the betting. She counted the whole thing out before him earlier, and he recalled how awkward he felt as she measured out the amount, coming up with a large number that he figured must have been large when he considered the prices displayed in the windows of stores (that being the only touch of economy he would have had any exposure to on this planet).

At length, he reached the window. The man inside puffed some sort of cigar and coughed before speaking. "Next fight is between the arena's champion behemoth, Gkalht, and a woman that claims to be Atsarute. Gkalht's stats are on the board beside me. Challenger announced death situation. Whatch'a betting for and how much?"

Piccolo pulled up the bag and dropped it down with a clatter before him. "Thirty-five thousand saers on the challenger."

The man's mouth went agape, and it seemed a wonder that the cigar didn't fall out of it. He quickly brought the bag down and counted its contents before documenting it and pressing out a small clay ticket and passing it to the Namek. After he waved him away, he heard him mumble, "That woman really must be Atsarute."

A slight smirk came to Piccolo's face as he walked away, now staring at the small clay ticket that was given to him. _Why would the tickets be made of clay rather than paper or something of the like? There's certainly enough paper to go around, since I saw enough flyers and signs around the place._ He didn't wonder long, however, since he had to find the place he was to sit, and with the large amount of people, it wasn't a simple matter.

The only difference the bleachers had from the lines was that he had a place to sit. People still chattered about the fight and how much they bet and on whom. There were a few more mentions of the challenger being Atsarute, but it was debunked as her being dead (a few said that she never used her real name in arenas anyway) and instantly turned into a different conversation. From what he heard, very few people were on the challenger's side of the bet. _She'll probably get more fucking rich from the gambling than from the reward._

Even with the clatter, he heard something come from under the bleachers: creaking, as if that from a large, metal gate. It was followed with some yelling, and then a low growl of some sort of creature. **_Dosun, dosun, dosun_**. It sounded kind of like footsteps. _Huge_ footsteps. He could almost feel them. _What the Hell is she fighting?_

There were two equally large holes in the ground level of the arena, which must have served for passageways. He heard the steps walk around and go towards the one to his right. He sighed and searched for Atsarute's ki on the other side, ending fruitless. _She's controlling it. Figures. And with so many ki around that are higher than Human, it would be hard to find anything being repressed like that._

The fighters came out simultaneously. To his right was what he assumed to be Gkalht. It was a true titan, to say the least, probably a good twenty times Piccolo's size and height. The thing was red and glistening with its own slime, grinding a toothy maw without lips to hide it and shaking its ruddy, scabrous head about to look at the cheering crowd with its black beads that it had for eyes. It's nostrils (as he supposed they were, since it didn't really have a nose) flared a bit with its aggravated exhale before it went into stance and flung its head at the audience, emitting a horrendous roar.

The ghastly sight almost made Piccolo forget to look at his left, to his general woman who was still suppressing her ki. The first thing he noticed: she chose the hide strap one. Her expression, however, would have struck him as looking _bored_ if it weren't for a slight twitch of amusement that he was able to catch on her mouth. Her cool disposition, in stark contrast to the raving colossus before her, just seemed to make her _more_ attractive.

He didn't get to admire her still form long. Gkalht took little time to take action and bring a three-pronged fist crashing down to her. She rolled out of the way to her right, just in time for the other hand to pound the ground by her other side. The great rumble in the ground that was created should have made her have difficulty in moving without falling on her face (as well as create fissures in the floor if it had been made of any Earth material), but it did not.

Tired of dodging the boulders of red flesh, Atsarute went straight for his legs and ripped her fist through the skin of its left shin. A howl of pain bellowed from the thing and it threw its tail towards her as it spun around its huge frame to face her again. Instead of pounding down its fists again, it shot down its powerful jaws, meaning to snap them closed on her. Atsarute jumped upwards and landed on his snout and ran up between its eyes to its forehead. It stood and flung its head around, so she dug her claws into its brow and rode out the motions, thrown around in such a way that she looked like a cord connected to its face, a scene that would have been comical if it weren't so frightening.

The momentum eventually tore her out of its face, but she was able to control her trajectory even as it once again tried raining on her with its momentous fists. She disappeared behind the crimson blur of attacks, and Piccolo was unsure if she was hit or not. Then he saw her, perched upon a tall column in the circle, staring straight back at him with a half-smirk and dark eyes. She seemed to project to him a thought, _Now I'll show you why speed's so vital in these fights._

The general shot off like a bullet to the back of the creature and succeeded a strike on the spine, just above the lumbar region. It roared and spun to attack, but she had already gone to his neck and spiked down on the collarbone. Piccolo could hear the crack of the bone that followed the strike, after she had already left for her next hit.

The devastating contacts didn't seem incredibly vital, yet they were obviously planned. They all seemed to be aimed to making its bones shatter in specific areas, mostly around the neck, but he couldn't place _why_. But Gkalht's movements were slowing; every time it tried to fling its head, it seemed to be going through extreme pain. Under its skin in that area, it darkened, as if blood was pooling and clotting. _I see… the shattered bones are severing its muscles as it flings its head to and fro to keep its eyes on Atsarute. Is she planning to…?_

After a few more hits and jumps, she stops and stands on the ground, nodding as if confirming that her preparation is finished. Gkalht sneered and dragged itself around to face her again, its muscles twitching in pain. Its eyes narrowed at her and another unearthly howl, this time more detached than ever, split from its toothed maw and peeled-back lips. One more lunge was made to her, this time a flared one as it threw its whole body.

He didn't even see the final strike until afterwards, with her extended leg pulling back as Gkalht's head split from its base, the blood pressure finishing the job of wrenching it away before spraying around the floor. Rents ran down its body, and it continued to fall forward, the liquid now spilling over her like a thick flood. Since she had just repealed from a strong attack, she didn't have time to escape the wave, and was covered.

That's when chaos erupted in the audience. A sound (one that was deafening to Piccolo's Namekku-sei-jin ears) thundered through with a piercing flash of light, followed by a thick, black cloud. It immediately caused a riot in the stands, and people could be heard fighting and screaming all over, if he was able to hear anything more than ringing.

Atsarute wiped her eyes and pulled her soaked hair from her eyes to peer at what all the commotion was, and a sinking feeling entered into her stomach._ Oh no…_ "Piccolo!"

The fighting seemed to reach him, and he couldn't help but feel a similarity to Loam Bistro and Jailbait. He found himself thwarting the hostility with his own fists, as blind and deaf as he was, and even the ki of those around him flickered on and off. But when the cloud settled and dispersed, and the ringing dulled, he found that he was among the few of his part of the wing that still stood.

And a few meters before him, Atsarute stood, blinking in amazement. Her astonished face slowly changed to show proud content as she exhaled and stood erect, a smile turning on her lips.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I'm sorry, Piccolo. I honestly forgot to tell you that the gangs hold a huge part in the gambling, and when they lose, some of them do things like that to cause confusion. Those carbon bombs are actually rather unique to this place, which is why the tickets are clay instead of paper, so that the carbon doesn't ruin your ticket and you're unable to collect."

Piccolo didn't answer with anything more than an inaudible huff, making a small dark puff float from him. "You got your damn money, right? Lets just get back to the ship and leave!"

"Fine, fine…" She shrugged… and began to chuckle lightly.

"…And what's with you?"

"You're covered with soot."

"And you're covered with blood. Your point?"

"My point is that you look ridiculous, though I imagine that I don't look so hot right now."

_I beg to differ,_ he scoffed in his mind. "Is there a specific reason that you chose the leather one instead of that web one?"

"Huh? You mean the outfit? And why do _you_ care? _Hmm?_"

"Can't I be curious?"

"Oh very well. I figured this one was going to be messy, so I chose the one that's easier to clean."

"A pity I didn't know that the same problem would apply to me."

"I _said_ that I'm sorry… Are you going to _nag_ me about it?"

"Just until we get washed."

"Hmm…" She stared up at the sky thoughtfully. "Piccolo… in honesty… I was worried that you wouldn't be able to protect yourself in that situation."

"Is that an insult?"

"No… but I didn't know that you progressed so quickly…" She smiled at him. "I should tell you that Katatsu requested of me to tutor you a bit in military strategy and tactic if your strength raised enough for it. He still means to have you as a general."

"And he didn't tell me _shit_ after he tested me. So he tells _you_ instead?" He growled. "I told him that I wasn't interested…"

"You should consider it, Piccolo. Those carbon bombs are designed to disorient, but you managed to keep from getting hurt in the panic. And I saw your talent as an intellectual fighter when sparring with you… You could be a _great_ leader… and you'll have one of the largest armies under your control."

"I don't see the point…"

"You don't? Fine. What is your goal in life _now_, Piccolo?"

"…What?"

She sighed. "You don't, do you?"

"Do _you_?"

"Heh… fuck off." She made a hiss and quickened her pace a little and pulled in front of him.

_Interesting attitude change…_ He studied her walking before her and saw a spot on her back that was bare of both blood and leather. He reached forward and scratched lightly.

And so, while he was covered with soot, a blood-covered woman chased him back to the ship… perhaps not the most honorable moment in Piccolo's life.

* * *

Dosun – Japanese onomatopoeia. Pretty much described as the sound of stomping or thudding.  
I'm in college now. So production shall slow (if you've noticed, it's already slowed… but it was mostly because I was without my computer in some form or another).  
An extra note: Fuck FEMA and fuck Brownie... with Arabian horses if possible. 


	34. Fools and Idiots

Disclaimer: Chapter two. Lime time warning.

To lime, or not to lime: that is the question: Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous passion, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them? To lime: to sleep with; And more; and by a sleep to say they begin the heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation devoutly to be wish'd.  
I think that's what ol' Bill Shakespeare _really_ meant, ne?

* * *

Coordinates were set for the next planet, and the ship had just lifted off. Atsarute picked up the bloody gloves that she took off earlier and went towards a door. "Since the only part of you that's dirty besides your clothes are your face and arms, I suppose you wouldn't mind if I take my bath first?" 

Piccolo was still trying to find a way to fumble out of his cape without the soot wafting up and making him cough. "What? That bath is anything but small. It's larger than a public bath back at Earth. We can both go at the same time, right?"

She growled at him and threw the gloves into the laundry. "That reminds me, I forgot to rip off your ears like I promised."

"I'll just regenerate them. Come on, it's not like your embarrassed about being seen in the nude."

"And I'm not… but I'm not giving _you_ anymore chances to touch me again."

He laughed, and projected to her mentally, _You liked it and you know it._

A long hiss came from her. "Fine. If you're going to be an ass about it, we can bathe together. But keep away from me. I don't want to be forced to get your purple blood in the water." Her hands reached behind her back and began to peel off the leather from her body. Piccolo scoffed at the bare green lines from where her scant clothing used to be contrasting with the rest of her sticky, blood-soaked body.

She rolled her eyes and pulled off her boots as well, throwing everything into the laundry. "You can put your clothes in the wash too, if you want… though I doubt you will since you can just form it from nothing."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"I still don't see why you wouldn't let me scrub you…"

Atsarute groaned. "And I still don't see why you have to flirt so god damn much. I mean you didn't hit on me nearly this bad back all those years ago, _counting_ that Valentine's night."

"I have my reasons." Piccolo grinned and turned away, arms crossed in his classic pose.

Atsarute growled and dove under the water of the large bath to settle on the bottom and rest, figuring it would be preferable to Piccolo's odd behavior. As she suspected, he didn't dive after her. _Just because he's acting strange doesn't mean he isn't dependable. At least I can count on him, I suppose…_

Piccolo kept his eye closed, pondering on what his next move would be. _Continuing to bug Atsarute wont do me any good. I should just stop trying to joke around and get to the point. But how the Hell should I word it…?_ He shifted slightly and reclined back.

Not many seconds later, Atsarute popped up out of the water not a meter away in front of him, eyes already set seriously on his.

"What's with you?" He grumbled, not liking being taken by surprise in such a fashion.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that question? I could sense your tension in your last motion in the water after being still so long." She glared at him. "Do you have something that you want to say?"

_Well, it certainly isn't a roundabout approach, is it?_ "Yes, in fact, I do."

Instead of barraging him with demands to "get on with it", she kept herself still in front of Piccolo and waited, staring at him thoughtfully. The prospect of her giving him her full attention unsettled him slightly, but this minute anxiety was shortly lived as he aptly pushed it away. "You were wondering why I wanted to come with you so badly, right?"

"You said earlier that you panicked."

"I did. But it has to do with—" He stopped himself when he was about to say "my feelings". It sounded so stupid in his mind! _Bad approach._ "Okay, I'll put it this way. The flirting is mostly in jest… but I've been doing to, I guess, loosen us up in each other's presence." He paused to let her speak if she wanted, but her silence urged him to continue. "They do reflect my intentions to an extent, however…" He still couldn't pull up a good phrasing for what he was trying in Japanese, but half-a-dozen phrases that didn't sound half-assed came up to his mind in Namekku-go, so he blurted out one of those.

There was another silence (one that felt to Piccolo incredibly long and awkward). _Doesn't she know Namekku-go? Perhaps I was mistaken… Maybe if I translate it literally into Japanese for her—_

She brought her hand up to her face and chuckled. "Good lord, I forgot how much the concept of 'love' matters in Namekku-go (how many words do they have for it?). In almost every language, a phrase that would mean basically the same thing is usually put in polite, cute, or sexual terminology. Your own language is probably the only one that can pull off a way that sounds proud without sounding like an _ass_."

Piccolo gritted his teeth and turned to the side, folding his arms more tightly. "How the fuck else am I supposed to put it, huh?"

"I didn't say it was inappropriate. It sounds better than what I've heard in most other languages… and even the some I've heard in Namekku-go. It doesn't sound bloody _absurd_."

An angry blush sat on Piccolo's cheeks as he glared at the woman. "Well? Is that all you're going to say about it?"

She smirked and waded closer to him, stopping not 7 cm away, her arms crossed very much like his while putting herself back into silence. Piccolo dropped his own arms and looked at her with some sweat running his temples that _weren't_ due to the bath. He could sense that she was plotting to do something to him.

"_Suki yo!_" She squealed in a high-pitched, girlish cry, throwing her arms around him and hugging him tightly.

"**_GYAAH!_**" He scrambled back from her and out of the tub in a skittish panic, pointing a finger at her accusingly. "**_THAT SHIT AIN'T FUNNY!_**"

Atsarute was left in her own sidesplitting guffaw. "Serve's ya' right for your bloody fawning!"

"Shut your fucking mouth!" he growled at her, "Telling the truth to you is like setting your head on the chopping block!"

She still didn't stop her laughter, but she was gaining control and calming down. "I suppose so. It isn't the first time I was told that."

He gave her another snarl before reaching for a towel and turning to walk off. _Fucking bitch…_

"Oi! You aren't leaving all ready, are you?" She called after him.

"If I stay in any longer, I'll prune," he said sarcastically.

He felt her ki move quickly from the bath to behind him. "Then I'll get out as well."

He stopped. "I've grown tired of this conversation, Atsarute."

"Hold on. I'm trying to offer you something."

"I'm not interested in anything you have. I've said many times all ready that I don't care about becoming a general, no matter how big my army would be."

"Imbecile. I'm offering you the same thing that I offered Sanatoasu."

It took Piccolo a full second to catch on to her. "Are you condescending to me?"

"Am I the type to condescend?"

He gazed sharply back at her. "You have to be making an exception. I'm not stronger than you, and, if I'm not mistaken, that's a requirement."

She spoke in a serious manner, "I've already thought about it, Piccolo. I just have to be careful…"

"Atsarute—"

"You can call me 'Atsa'."

"…" Piccolo turned fully to her. "You're sure this isn't a foolish decision?"

"Certainly, it's foolish…" She slumped her shoulders and moved against him before reaching around him in and locking her hands behind him. "But who cares?"

Not seeing any other option besides what was placed before him, he folded her into him and rubbed her back lightly with his fingers. The action made her jerk as her scales ruffled and grab at his back roughly.

"Are you okay?"

Her eyes closed tightly in a determined motion. "I'm… fine." She pulled her head up and kissed the side of his jaw. "Continue."

He proceeded as she asked, earning more squirms and whimpers as he felt around the non-erogenous zones, about to stop again when he realized she was shivering. _Geez… you wouldn't know that she wasn't a virgin._ But he didn't get a chance to stop; she started to do the same for him, and before long was scratching at his flesh with her own set of spiked canines.

Piccolo stilled his own actions. "…Atsa?"

_Just keep going,_ she projected to him with her fangs still busy with his skin. _I'll be fine._

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"So, Atsarute-sama and Piccolo-sama will be coming to this planet?" Arufuredo adjusted his glasses for perhaps the third time since Goku teleported everyone from Sui-sei to one of Atsarute's branch bases on a planet that's name was a bunch of numbers and letters in sequence.

Jakkaru didn't turn as he continued to lead them forward through the corridor. "Yes. Atsa got the transmission of Komugiko's intentions and told us that she would be coming here as soon as possible. We just got word of her approach."

"So, she'll be going immediately into strategy, then?"

"I don't know. She told us to have this planet's Three Twenty-two calibrated so that she would be able to speak to Katatsu when she arrived. I am unsure of her intentions…"

"Perhaps she wishes to supplement her army with Katatsu-sama's? Or maybe it has to do with Piccolo-sama?"

"Or both. Who can tell, really? Atsa's intentions are hard to place. I've always said that there _has_ to be a plan. There's _always_ a plan when Atsa's involved."

These words didn't calm Piccolo Sr. "My son has been confirmed to still be with her, correct? Are you sure that he sent no word in the transmissions?"

The Puroeriun didn't acknowledge the question with a direct answer. Instead, he stopped short of the landing pad and said, "They will arrive shortly."

Not 2 minutes after, a spark could be seen in the sky, and the quick decent of a ship burst into view. Landing jets interrupted the fall and the vehicle touched down softly.

A ramped door opened, and the two occupants walked out slowly, holding their bruised and bleeding shoulders while they leaned against each other for support.

"Piccolo-san! Atsarute-san!" Gohan yelled out, "What happened?"

"A simple training session, right?" Piccolo said. Atsarute nodded silently in agreement.

Piccolo Sr. frowned. "It doesn't look all that simple to me. What kind of training have you been putting him through, Atsarute?"

A grin pulled her lips over her fangs. "Routine general training. This idiot did a bloody 180 and decided he wanted to take up Katatsu on leading some of his army."

"What? Where did that come from, Piccolo?"

He shrugged. "Some things happened and I changed my mind. Is that illegal?"

"'Some things happened,'"Atsarute huffed, "I give you a speech on it, and you ignore me. We share some time _completely_ unrelated to it, and then you won't listen to me talk you out of it! Tsh… idiot."

"You're an idiot too, Atsa."

"Yes, yes, we've already established that." She shifted to her own weight and brought herself towards Jakkaru in a dragging pace. "Jako. I want you and the two Piccolos to talk to Katatsu about what's happened… Komugiko and whatnot. Have the video sent to him if he hasn't already seen it himself. I'll be resting… and have the younger one go last and rest while he's waiting as well… He needs recuperation more than I do."

"Okay, Atsa… I'll go set orders to make sure your room is ready." He left with Atsarute short after.

Piccolo Sr. broke away from the rest of the group and stomped over before his son, proceeding in Namekku-go, "Where the fuck has your judgment been lately? What the bloody Hell have you two been doing?"

The younger laughed slightly and answered in the like language, "You would be surprised how similar the responses to those questions would be."

"What? …Oh god, your judgment really has been bad. I _don't_ know what the whole pressure is with the suitor being stronger than the heiress on Sui-go, but I _do_ know that it's not something to be messed with. It doesn't lie entirely in tradition or superstition."

"I wasn't exactly in a position to _decline_."

"You're not exactly in a position to be able to say something that stupid, idiot!"

The Saiya-jin and Humans that came along looked at the scene in confusion, unable to figure out what was going on since the argument before them was in a completely different language. Bulma caught a phrase or two, and somewhat understood the syntax, but wasn't any more enlightened than the others on what was happening. Plus, Neil and Toniko were still on Sui-sei training, so there weren't any native translators to help out, either.

Luckily Jakkaru popped back in and dispersed the awkwardness. "The line is ready."

* * *

Suki yo – A feminine version of "I love you". (Lit. "I like you"; Japanese rarely use "aishiteru" or more literal versions of "I love you".) 

And now you are reminded why I don't usually write citrus-y things.


	35. Parental

Disclaimer: It's in chapter two.

There's a big hunk of college where my time used to be. Oh, and I'm 20 years old, now. One more year.  
Yay. Ace is kinda back. I might have more than one reviewer on this story now.

* * *

Piccolo was still on Katatsu-sei, discussing with his grandfather. Gohan took it upon himself to ask Atsarute about what happened while she and his old sensei were traveling in the same ship. He sat before her desk in her study, where maps, calculators, grids, and different sorts of materials used for strategic planning existed in piles that separated him from Atsarute just enough to create a border but not to obstruct their view of each other.

Atsarute rubbed the bandage on her neck for the fourth time. "There's just not a lot to talk about, Gohan. I had trouble for a little while trying to figure out his reasons myself. They always end up being logical, but recently his logic seems really… emotion driven."

He smiled nervously. "Yeah, he does that sometimes. It's usually really rare, though… I could give a few guesses on why he's going that—"

"No need. I know already where it's coming from. He's already told me. And his decision to become a general himself is probably related." She rubbed her neck again. "Damnit."

"Why didn't you have the healer take care of your neck as well, Atsarute-san?"

She groaned. "It's not exactly something that should be healed. It's not from sparring, anyway."

"It's not? Then how'd you get it?"

There was a short hesitation. "Did you ever wonder why Nameks have fangs?"

Gohan didn't say anything; he just sat there with wide eyes through an uncomfortable silence.

She stared back at him skeptically. "Never mind."

It was almost as if a bubble burst over his head. "Ah! I'm sorry… I wasn't—I mean—"

"It's okay, Gohan. I have no intention of hiding it… however, it would be easier for my family not to know of it, so I would be grateful if you didn't go screaming it around the base."

"I understand." He lowered his gaze and blushed in embarrassment.

Atsarute raised a brow and squelched a chuckle to an amused grin. "Since we're on this kind of topic, how are you and that girl doing? …Videl wasn't it?"

The strong Saiya-jin man was still very much a shy boy. His cheeks reddened even more and his body shifted unconsciously away from her. "We're doing… fine…"

"Anything happening that your own mother would be concerned about?"

"Err…" Gohan easily had a skin tone that could rival a red oni now. "W-what gives you that idea?"

"Your attitude to the question only confirms it. And your mother probably sees it as well... if not hoping for it."

"Y-you really think so?"

"Well, it's been a while since I've interacted with Humans, but that's what I surmise."

He took a breath and kept still a moment to recollect himself. "You're very… maternal sometimes, Atsarute-san."

"Huh?"

"I didn't mean it in a weird or bad way! It's just… you seem to have those kind of qualities… I guess…"

"Oh." The general woman shrugged. "Some of my soldiers have been in my army since they were very young and regard me in that manner, so that's more than likely where it came from. Even Suraku once said that he respected me as much as his mother…" She smiled and pulled out a cup and pitcher of warm, brewed liquid, pouring the substance. "For a little while, when he was younger, he called me 'obasan'."

"I thought of Piccolo-san that way, too… I think you two would make great parents…"

"…" The cup hovered before her lips, and she stared off into space. "…Parents?"

"Eh—I mean—"

There was a knock on the door. Gohan nearly jumped and turned around.

Atsarute looked up from her drink. "Enter."

It opened, and a tired Namek came in, stopping not far behind Gohan. Piccolo groaned. "I've never been so fucking exhausted without actually _being_ exhausted. That old freak of a grandfather put me through so goddamn many tests that I couldn't lift myself off the ground. Then he sends some healer to rejuvenate me for the second time today… I feel like I did after my first death."

"Wow…" She looked at a nearby clock. "Time went fast. I've been talking with your old student for the past several hours. What did Katatsu say?"

"I'm a general, decorated and powerful, burdened with responsibilities, remember to send my thanks to Atsarute for training you, blah blah blah… he might not be as annoying as my father, but I see the fucking resemblance."

"Didn't your father go with you?"

"Yes… and he bothered me whenever he could about—" He stopped and motioned Gohan to leave. He quickly obliged and left with a polite bow and valedictions to the two.

She laughed after the door shut behind him. "That wasn't necessary. He already knows and isn't going to tell anyone about it."

"_You're_ the one that wanted to be careful about it."

"Yeah, yeah… and I _am_ being careful. But the only Puroeriun on this base that would be any problem is Jako, and he's easy to fool. No complications… yet. So your father was being obnoxious about it?"

"Mhm. And it didn't help to have Son there to stare off at us completely clueless to what we're talking about. As if the situation wasn't awkward enough. Luckily, Father himself suggested to keep the knowledge away from Katatsu and the rest of the family."

"Heh, I guess there was some progress then. Well, I've got intelligence to review and calculations to ma—ah! What are you doing?"

"Just making sure that the experience in question wasn't confined to the ship." He rubbed the area he cupped and listened to the rustling scales.

"It wasn't, but I have work to do with Funzen and Komugiko pulling this nonsense out of their asses. They might not have been anything to worry about before, but combined, they've got potential to become something greater than the sum of its parts and—Ah! You aren't listening at all!"

Piccolo pulled her off the chair. "Did you say something?"

"Like you can't hear me! I need to… it's not like I don't want… ah, at least let me go lock the bloody door!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Bulma stood erect and wiped her brow after the last bolt was tightened and she looked on her latest achievement. She successfully reproduced the Three Twenty-two after studying the blueprints for multiple months. In the meantime, everyone except the Namekku-sei-jin have returned to their families on Earth. Atsarute had pulled away the training for the Earthlings and Saiya-jin to make sure she had enough resources to prepare her soldiers and insisted that they get away as soon as possible if they didn't want to be involved in the upcoming skirmish.

Of course, they wanted to help, so Bulma was soon put upon to build the machine (along with some prodding by Vegita to make the training grounds and Atlas orbs… which she doesn't intend to start on any time soon). Despite the difficulty, though, she did enjoy the challenge, and she couldn't wait to show it off, especially to her father. It would have to wait, though; she was in the living room before she noticed it was dark outside. A quick glance to the LED digital clock told her that it was after four-o-clock A.M. _Wow… I've been working for 12 hours straight… but I don't feel tired._ The pang of hunger hit her, and she decided to stroll into the kitchen before going to bed.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"Ah! It's you!" Arufuredo waved and broke from the other Pasuko-jin to approach the Humans and Saiya-jin. "It's been a while! Such a shame that Atsarute refused to train you bunch as well… but it's not like the regimen is an enjoyable experience. Although, I have to say, I quite like the results. I don't think I've ever felt like lead _vomit_ on Hell's floor to feeling like I'm drifting on atmosphere a week later. At least not so definitely… and almost literally, I should say.

"But I digress; how are you all? Bulma-san, I take it, then, that you've succeeded in recreating the Three Twenty-two? An amazing achievement! If I had the time, I would have done so as well, and we could have had a race to see who finishes first."

This spurred on a conversation between the two scientists (much to Vegita's dismay), which was quickly paused by Gohan. "Where is Piccolo-san and Atsarute-san?"

Arufuredo's eyes blinked behind his glasses at the question. "Oh… I'm unsure. Atsarute-sama often travels, and Piccolo-sama will follow sometimes, so they're usually together, but it is never certain. We've already had a few minor battles (I guess they would be minor battles on Atsarute's side, anyway) with our Empress' armies, but there's no damage to speak of yet. Despite that, Atsarute-sama is formulating more than ever lately… I believe that she suspects something major to happen soon."

"Has Piccolo-san been fighting along side her?"

"From time to time, Piccolo-sama's armies would assist Atsarute-sama, but it's, apparently, mostly to assist adaptation… to get their armies to work well together if need be. Since they're both experimenting with the strategies and tactics, those maneuvers are usually against smaller skirmishes as of late. I've only fought along side of them once so far."

"Oh!" Kuririn seemed to have a flash come through his mind. "How about Toniko-chan? Is she in Atsarute's army as well?"

Arufuredo smiled. "Toniko-sama already trumps me in rank. Resuma, Katatsu's wife, has allowed it with her blessing… despite what Katatsu himself has said. Atsarute-sama has promised him that Toniko-sama will be as healthy as she ever was when he saw her again, if not healthier."

"And Neil?"

The bright smile on Arufuredo quickly dimmed and fell into a solemn expression.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The group was escorted from the huge conglomeration of soldiers back to the Sui-sei castle then brought through the echoed halls to a room on a floor meant to house guest embassy members and ambassadors. A guard was stationed before the door, giving a salute to Arufuredo as he brought them in.

The room was kept dark, save for the lights that the nurses that scuttled nearby carried, and the air was thick with the cold humidity that characterized Sui-sei weather. A form shifted slightly under thick covers on a long bed against the far wall.

"That's him," Arufuredo whispered, "No one's quite sure what happened to him. He suddenly couldn't be found on any of the bases or on Katatsu-sei. Then some Namekkian respects, particularly Katatsu-sama and Mollosuki-san, received a ransom note from one of Funzen's associates to pull their interests form Atsarute-sama's military associations, with Neil-san being the object of ransom."

The group shifted, feeling uneasy to this new information. "What did they do to him?" Goku said finally.

"No one's really sure. Piccolo-sama went to rescue him using his forces himself instead of indulging in the demands. They said that he was already like this when they got to him… but he's having problem's keeping consciousness, and turns feverish from time to time. At first, we thought it was some sort of hang-back from the mania, but there are no records of the mania producing such effects after separation… seeing as there are few records to deal with these conditions as it stands, it's not surprising.

"Right now, they're maintaining his health by means of IV when he is unable to nourish himself manually. When he's awake, he can be perfectly normal for most of the time. But if his blood sugar goes down too low, or if he doesn't have enough of this or that in his blood stream, or if he's been exposed to a viral infection (although he never contracts the infection), he's down and out faster than terminal velocity. Because of that, Atsarute has ordered to keep him in top condition, given the circumstances, and keep blood levels stable."

One of the nurses must have decided that he was talking too much and too loudly, and they were quickly ushered back out of the room into the hall. Even though the torches in the hall didn't illuminate the area nearly as much as any of them were used to, the sudden onset of light irritated their eyes enough for them to squint and rub their lids. "Why is that room kept so dark and cold anyway?" Bulma grumbled.

"We have difficulty keeping the patient's levels steady when he is uncomfortable," the head nurse said as she motioned her subordinates back in, "and he seems to have the most difficulty sleeping soundly when in artificial atmosphere, including artificial light, so we leave the lights off and let the room keep cool and damp. You may not see him until he regains consciousness… even if the _doctor_—" She glared at Arufuredo. "—Escorts you personally."

The scientist sighed as she shut the door behind her, and turned to his friends. But of the group, the two full-blooded Saiya-jin had already wandered off, intending to go back to that training room from before.

* * *

Obasan – Aunt, ma'am… (Note: Gohan used to call Piccolo "ojisan".)  
Resuma – "Lesma", Portuguese for "slug".  
-shrug- Might as well put in some random citrus candies, or whatever you want to call them. This chapter took so long to come out because I couldn't figure out what I wanted to happen come the "third page". 


	36. Negotiations

Disclaimer: Ow! Okay, okay, its in chapter two! Now let go of my arm! Geez... I hope you choke on it, you damned lawyers.

Isn't college great? Especially when you take Calculus cold? And then you have music theory homework after that? Ah, you kids will enjoy it if you haven't gotten there yet.

* * *

The Namekku-sei-jin diplomat folded his hands together and bowed his head thoughtfully. "We understand that you have been separated from the rest of our race, Muni Saichourou, and that your people were the last to see our home world before its total annihilation. However, we don't have such resources to implement you into the population." 

The appointed elder cleared his throat nervously and shifted his glance side to side, trying to pull up something significant. "But you realize, sir, that we have no females on our planet, and the male eggs that we have in stock are dwindling to nothing. Our tribes will die after this generation."

"I understand the predicament, but that doesn't make our position change. It's seems to be a vein of luck that one of your former warriors had brought to our attention of a continuing civilization. As much as we welcome your tribes into our own emotionally and in name, we cannot bring you physically with us. There is simply too much societal stress to allow us the luxury of accepting a hundred more of us."

"But it isn't necessary for us to make a pilgrimage over to Katatsu-sei. Our new planet has a surplus of room, and can accommodate well for an increase of population. Even though we've already had to move from the home world once, we have no interest in changing again. We simply want some to come here and keep our tribes continuing."

"I suppose, then, that you want us to send some women to your planet? A brash request, Muni-sama… I doubt that Katatsu-sama would agree with drafting some of our precious female citizens so that they may be trekked across the Red Stream."

Muni wiped away the sweat over his brow and groaned in frustration. When the first Saichourou had left the matters of the whole planet to him before he died, he knew that there would be difficulties, but he never imagined that they would include negotiations to obtain perhaps the only thing that the adults feared and yet never spoke of, and that was of the pitiful death of their race from not being able to reproduce. Of course, he was overjoyed to hear that they already have been continuing light-years away, and his people found great relief. But they didn't want their tribes to die out any more than their race. The murders that they _personally_ experienced from Freezer and the total absence of Tuno's village, who were slaughtered by the Saiya-jin Vegita punctuated this.

From somewhere in his mind, one of the most important facts popped up, giving him something that might just be enough for persuasion. "It was a stroke of luck that Purunga included the eggs with the rest of the life forms when we were transported from Namekku-sei. And it was also a stroke of luck that they were able to outlast the disaster centuries ago. The Saichourou before me didn't tell any of us his story in its entirety until we were quite well into adulthood. As you probably know, these monasteries were places where abandoned eggs were kept, and he was the head of the largest. After the disaster, most of the male eggs were broken, only leaving less than two hundred. He took it upon himself to hatch these eggs."

"Sir, I hardly see—"

"I'm not finished! There was also a large selection of female eggs, although not originally even a thousandth in size when compared to the males, was kept in a much more fortified area of the nursery and no damage befell them. He attempted, against what he's always been taught, to hatch those by himself as well, but only ended up with a stagnating illness from the poisoning. We haven't had a proper place to store them since Namekku-sei was destroyed, so it's only a matter of time before they are destroyed or made useless through time."

Now the negotiator seemed interested. "And about how many female eggs are there?"

Muni hesitated for a moment, suppressing a grin. "Exactly five million, two hundred twenty-five thousand, three hundred sixty two female eggs. I told you it was the biggest monastery… and at that time, the only monastery that held orphaned female eggs."

The man's face didn't change for a few moments, but gradually fell into a great expression of shock and awe. "E-excuse me," he squeaked out before he ran down the hall from the communication console, screaming for Katatsu and the other royalty.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The newest general of the Namekku-sei-jin forces entered the office with a growl and crashed down onto the chair set before Arufuredo's desk, immediately deactivating the force field shielding and pulling off the bone-like frame. "Damn, this shit's uncomfortable. How does Atsa handle wearing full _metal_ armor when this partial stuff is so irritating?"

The doctor looked up from his charts with a brow raised. "Piccolo-sama? What's the purpose of this visit? Atsarute-sama is not present on this base at the moment."

The green man gave another grunt before forming his trademark cape over his shoulders. "I'm aware of that; I wouldn't be here if she was. The truth is, I have some business with you that she must not know of."

"And what would that be, sir?"

Piccolo pulled out several papers and set them before Arufuredo. "This. The second sheet is a translation of the first from Sui-go into Japanese."

Arufuredo set the first aside and read through the second quickly before commenting. "What a strange poem. Where did it come from?"

"It's some sort of folk song that Atsa sings all of the time. I got her to write that translation for me not long ago."

"Hmm… if you don't mind me saying, it figures that she would sing such a strange thing all of the time giving her personality. But why are you showing it to me?"

"I've been doing some research, trying to get to the bottom of Atsa's personality. Her odd behavior towards her suitors and her digressions with tradition are some of the primary topics. Since you're actually under her command and more in contact with her race and family than I am, I figured that you would be the best person to help me out on this."

"And you think that this has something to do with it?"

"No, not really. But something tells me I shouldn't overlook it. I want you to figure out what exactly that song is about, and maybe do some espionage if you find it to be necessary. Of course, you're under no obligation; I'm asking as a favor."

"Actually, there are several aspects of Puroeriun culture that is outside of my understanding," the doctor commented, "and such a task I think could only supplement the research to quench my thirst for curiosity. I'll gladly do this for you, Piccolo-sama."

"Good. I'm glad." Pause. "And how is that edgy half-brother of mine?"

"Neil-san's health is increasing gradually. He no longer needs constant surveillance, but he is still unwilling to share his thoughts or what had happened to him when he was held prisoner."

"Has Toniko been worried by your knowledge?"

He made a sigh. "At first, it seemed that she had been quite taken by Neil-san, and she was at first quite worried and made constant visits. But lately they've been little to none, and she's expressed no interest to anyone for him."

"I figured that Neil was overreacting… but are you sure that you just aren't being hopeful?"

"Excuse me?"

"It's pretty obvious that you're taken with that warrioress cousin of mine. Its pretty much common knowledge to anyone associated with you at the least."

After a long silence, he finally spoke. "I suppose it was pretty obvious, but I remain beside my observation regardless. I pride in objective reasoning; I am a scientist, after all."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Atsarute passed out over her maps and charts again as the steering stick swayed back and forth from the autopilot, sending a slight dynamic hum through the otherwise quiet room. Her hands were once again bloodied and cramped from working too hard; she recently came to a horrifying realization, and had to plan every battle without the possibility of Piccolo's forces backing her up. The plans not only included tightened and perhaps dangerous strategies for herself, but also included diplomacy scenario sheets.

The diplomacy plans were nothing but strange. Anyone who knew Atsarute would know that she rarely, if ever, planned her diplomacy beforehand. She was a natural presence, intimidator, negotiator, manipulator, and con. Such were gifts from her royalty, intelligence, strength, and demonic cunning. But that wasn't all. These communication maps weren't for enemy negotiations, preparations for weapons trade, or even spinning speeches to gain allies.

They were planned excuses for when she is questioned for excluding Piccolo's forces from her plans. A variety of lies and deceptions constructed to fit any situation, with different annotations from person to person for each lie, and the person with the most notes in every one of them was Piccolo himself.

Her eyes lazily opened, and she rose, looking down at her forearms at the mirrored black shapes across her skin from lying on the papers. She debated internally for a moment, and decided that going to bed is more important than washing off a little ink.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The discussion continued in great length, with the Namek and the Pasuko-jin bringing together their observations and theorizing with the material. It was many hours later before Piccolo finally left the office, his armor under his arm. But as he turned to continue down the hall, he saw a Puroeriun that he hadn't seen since that day he went to Sui-sei: Atsarute's uncle, Setto.

He made a nod and waved a bottle of alcohol. "Yo. Piccolo, isn't it?"

Piccolo made a stern nod then moved to go past the man. But as was just adjacent to him, he spoke again: "You're curious about Atsa's behavior, right?"

The Namek stopped and turned his head, not breaking his solemn expression. "I assume that you've been listening in."

"I eavesdrop from time to time. But that isn't the point. I can tell you about Atsa's past… why she acts that way towards Kenturion and Sanatoasu… why she regards some traditions with respect, but not others… and even the real question, which you didn't bring up with that scientist… you know… her aversion to marriage. Is there a particular reason why you want to know about something like that?"

Piccolo suppressed a scowl, but spoke regardless. "The rest of my family is beginning to pressure me into marriage. I've even overheard some of them discuss arranging something for me."

"So you _did_ fall in love with my maiden of a niece?" Setto chuckled, then pulled out another bottle and passed it to Piccolo. "How about we have a little talk over on the walkway of the upper floor? I'll gladly enlighten you on Atsa-chan's little mysteries."

* * *

Look, you got a chapter and everything! Isn't that great! I know it's not the usual 2000 words, but you'll just have to deal with 100-200 words less.  
I'm going to go screw around instead of studying for my finals or practicing for my jury.  
Responsibilities are unimportant. 


	37. The Darkness of Suisei

Disclaimer: Something something chapter two something.

All right! Christmas break is here, and I'm cooking! Well, actually, I'm not _cooking_, because I can't _cook_… and, while we're on the subject, I don't _clean_ very well, either. It's a good thing I'm a liberal pagan, otherwise I'm screwed when/if I get married/knocked up.

* * *

Setto grinned as he swished around the liquid in his bottle. "You know, Atsa was a cute kid. You would probably expect her to be a tiny version of herself now, but she really wasn't. Well, she was in attitude, I suppose. But the way she looked… a little green lizard, scurrying up the walls and swatting her tail around. She was still bipedal, certainly, and she could walk just as well as any adult could, but she was a cunning creature. And she didn't have any more qualms with killing then than she does now. In fact, she still decapitated people. She would run up their backs, grab on their neck, and _sfft!—_off went their heads!" 

Piccolo stared darkly with a slight tinge of annoyance as he stood against the tall railing around the platform and took a sip of the alcohol that he was given. "…And?"

"Well, that wasn't the only way she killed them back then, 'cause it's hard for such a little girl to decapitate someone. Sometimes she stabbed them in the neck, and sometimes she poisoned them with her claws, which at the time could extend until they fell out. Yeah, when that little girl climbed up your back, it meant death… _except_ for her father. When she got up their, she'd hug his neck and give him a big kiss on his cheek and say 'I love you, Daddy!'"

There was a slight pause before the Namek began to laugh loudly, holding his drink away from him as to not spill it. "She really did that?"

"Oh yeah. She was daddy's sweet little princess you could say. And she and Derosen were two little devils, especially when they combined forces. But she was a quiet girl otherwise, and really observant. Naiosai and his Aikanefi never were a picture of a perfect marriage.

"I would like to say that this was the only cause, or even a major one, but it wasn't. I suppose you've heard of the prophecies regarding Atsarute's to-be husband?"

"Yes. She told me about them quite a while ago. About Kenturion and Sanatoasu."

"What was the extend of what she told you?"

Piccolo closed his eyes, trying to recall her words from years ago when she was walking on Earth as Jin, then realized that she told him very little. "She told me that it was almost as good as being engaged to the people mentioned."

"As I figured; she didn't say much. Well, there's a whole process behind it… and its not like she's the only one in the family that got it. At every birth in the royal family, the highest spiritual leader on the planet, which is usually different each year and isn't always in a spiritual position at the time, goes into trance and compiles the predictions of the potential mates for the new member royalty, and it is locked away, not to be opened until they are at age for marriage.

"Thus, everyone born in the royal family had them, including Derosen and Aikanefi… not Naiosai or I since we weren't born in. But there is something different about Atsa's prophecies… Every prophecy up to this point has predicted three people, but Atsa's only has two."

"Only two? What does that mean?"

"Well, it is supposed by everyone that it's a warning that she may never get married. But I'll let you in on a little secret…" Setto coughed, as if steadying himself. "The prophecies, no matter what, include three potential people. The person who makes them is bombarded with a sea of terms that describe who the mate may be, and it is his job to separate them to describe three people. Sometimes they marry people with qualities from each person, or sometimes they don't get married at all. So Atsa's prophecy, no matter what, had to originally had a third person, and they _did_."

A twinge of anxiety came into Piccolo as he tried to suppress any hopeful feelings. "Do you know who the third was?"

"Actually, yes. I approached my brother after he read the prophecies out loud, for he stopped after the second one with this most horrified look on his face and announced that a third was not to be found. All three described people the family knew perfectly, and of good backgrounds so there wouldn't be a political qualm. First described Sanatoasu, the second described Kenturion… I'll get to the third later. That's a long story."

"Sanatoasu and Kenturion both knew Atsa from a young age. Sanatoasu tended to be closer to Atsa and would sometimes go with her on her missions, campaigns, and what not. He was humble and pure-hearted since childhood, and he had great respect for Atsa, despite his superior strength, and grew to love her since he claims he can find no other woman that was so bold as she.

"Kenturion, however, was a spoiled brat with a bad attitude, and didn't seem to be particularly fond of marriage with her at first, but his father forced him to enter the suitor trails for her all the same. It seems that as they fought, they gained an understanding of each other, and formed a friendship behind closed doors. Kenturion grew out of his pompous attitude, but he keeps the rouse up on Sui-sei to keep Aikanefi from annoying Atsa to marry him… this was after Atsa had gained her dislike towards marriage. Kenturion gained a love for her as well, and Atsa seems to have feelings for them both. Sanatoasu never challenges Atsa in the mating fight, and Kenturion only comes to fight with her for fun since he knows that he can't win… he has even decided to lose on purpose or decline the marriage hand if he somehow ends up being the stronger one."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Neil rose slowly and made his way to the window. _This planet seems to be eternally in twilight, _he thought with a sigh, _I've never been in such constant darkness as this before… even when I was locked up in Piccolo's mind, I could see the sunlight through his eyes. But this planet is almost always night, and the dusk lasts for what seems like days._

Another heave came from his chest. He had slept through the last short interval of light on Sui-sei, and it saddened him more than he expected. His home planet was always so bright… He remembered the day that the skies darkened with the summoning of Porunga while he lay immobilized by Freeza's attacks. For a moment, he thought he was blacking out, dying. And when he began to experience regular nights in Piccolo's body, he fidgeted and squirmed in his mind, more often than not annoying his host.

It took being detained by health issues on this planet for Neil to realize that he was afraid of the dark. Piccolo often joked that he was, while including that such a phobia was seen as childish on Earth. He couldn't wait until he could be taken on a different planet… _any_ planet with regular daylight.

He shivered. _This room is always so cold and dark… but I can hear the waves… seas pervade this planet as just as Namekku-sei did, at least._ Fatigue bit heavily into his bones, and he gritted his teeth in attempt to thwart it. _Those dreams… those fucking dreams… They won't leave me alone… They won't let me rest… Enlightenment came to him. Maybe it comes to me through the power systems! That could explain why it can't seem to come as easily when the lights and heat are off. It must come through electric impulses…_

_And those guys who captured me… they said that their equipment just lead them to my position when I was wondering around in my dazed state from lack of sleep…_

_That must be it._

Neil shivered and retreated into his covers, a grin forming on his face. He managed a dry cackle from his throat. "I know how to beat you. Now I just have to figure out what you are."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

"The third prophesy, was connected to a wealthy Sui-sei merchant family that had a background in fighting, particularly as rangers, scouts, and espionage specialists. himself was a very well established warrior. He would sometimes spar with local warriors, and little Atsa-chan saw him training with the soldiers one day and watched him intently since his fighting style was so different from the straightforward moves of the castle guards.

"She began to bother him to fight with her as well, but he always pushed her away, laughing, telling her that she was just a kid. Of course, he couldn't keep saying that; Atsa soon began getting bands together to travel around on different planets, and she started gaining notice from it very quickly since they tended to be quite successful.

"So she got him into her group eventually, and got to spar with him during times that they camped. Her curiosity with him grew into a little puppy love, and she followed him around, even when he wasn't traveling with her. Of course, he still thought that she was an annoying child at the time. But that changed as she matured in the rapid pace from being the younger sibling in the family, and he noticed. It probably wouldn't surprise you to know that he noticed it when she wore the precursor of her arena outfits… which, at the time, was just an outfit she borrowed from a prostitute."

Piccolo curled his lip and shifted his shoulders uncomfortably. "Figures," he spoke in a surly tone.

"That last bit was told to me by Jako, so it could be wrong. But, I don't know if ever had a chance to actually return her feelings, and I really doubt he had. It wasn't long after before this man, who Atsa had respected as a fighter and felt love for, who she probably thought could never die, was found dead in his own bed. It turned out that his ex had killed him, snuck through his window and stabbed him through the eyes, out of spite…

"When Atsa found out, she didn't act particularly shocked or give a scene… she only lowered her head, cocked a brow, and walked off. She didn't go to his funeral, pay respect, or anything. In fact, I think she's only seen his tombstone once. But I think she began to see where long relationships failed, and being the way she is, sat and thought out her deductions carefully.

"Before we knew it, it was time to reveal her prophecies and begin her courtship. My brother opened the scrolls and read through the first two, but when he got to the third he stopped, and I watched horror pass through his face. He announced that there was no third, and locked up the papers immediately. He told me later the contents, and revealed to me that he perhaps might not have kept the third prophecy away from the others had the piece of paper not predict the lads circumstance of death. Naiosai just felt it would be too much on his daughter.

"Atsa didn't seem to care one way or another on the prophecies, and told the family just that. This seemed to upset Aikanefi, and since Derosen was at the time hitching up with a woman, she decided to try to force Atsa into marrying Sanatoasu since Kenturion was a brat. This flat out pissed off Atsa, and she ran off from home… I believe that's when she went to that planet you were on, Earth." Setto took a long drink and ended dryly, "And that's the story of Atsa-chan's bitterness."

Piccolo rolled his eyes and gave a scoff. "Indeed, the story. And how should you come across all of this knowledge, dear in-law of mine?"

"Because everyone loves me!" He stood straight and stretched before moving to go past Piccolo. "Besides…" He slowed his pace briefly and tapped his bottle on his mouth before passing the Namek completely. "Liquor loosens locked lips."

* * *

New poll! New poll! FF-net seems to still hate URLs, so remember to take out all of the spaces before using it.  
piccylo. 8m. com /cgi-bin/ polls/ 002/ pollcenter . htm  
It isn't about scenes from GVD anymore. Instead, it's all about the OCs. Which one will be drawn next? My readers get to decide! Of course, I plan to draw all of them eventually, but I might as well get some nudging from the readers since I've consulted them before.  
Vote, so that I won't have to yell at you guys on every chapter to do it. 


	38. Binding

Disclaimer: 2nd chapter. Lime warning…

Taking forever, taking forever, taking forever… Oh, hi college life!  
The big reason that I've not been updating is because, along with a nice little writer's block, I got infatuated with Naruto and One Piece. I even wrote some fics… which I would suggest by the way. The manga and anime (do _not_ watch the American version if you value your IQ) are heavily inspired by Toriyama, and my one shot "Jaded Lullaby" is about Hawkeye Mihawk (I think most Piccolo fans would also think he's cool)… plus it's like reading 8 chapters of BAW. (Lengthwise anyway, since it's **_16,000_** words long! I'm mostly just trying to show it off 'cause I worked pretty hard on it.)

* * *

Setto had long since gone when Piccolo realized that he didn't get the information about Atsarute's precise stand towards the male-must-be-stronger attitude in her family. It sure as Hell didn't seem to stem from the same traditional values that Humans might have had on the subject. He was sure that there had to be a practical reason… but what? 

Not getting any sort of repose from contemplating this subject, he shifted to thinking on the third prophecy, ignoring to the best of his abilities the illogical pang of jealousy. "What was his name? Ferkon Sawl? Fakan Scar? Damn!" _Setto must have been mumbling… or my mind blocked it out for some reason…_

"Faukan?" A familiar voice said behind him. He turned to see Kenturion and Sanatoasu, both with serious expressions. "Faukan, from the Shkaw family?" Kenturion repeated.

"Yeah, that's the name," Piccolo knit his brows. "How did you know it?"

"I heard that he was someone Atsa was… _Atsarute-sama_ was once quite fond of."

Piccolo shook his head. "You can spare me the air, Kenturion. I am aware of your relationship with Atsa, and it does not bother me… And the same goes for you, Sanatoasu…the fact that you two had sex is of little concern."

The two men looked at each other and back at the Namek, as if trying to confirm the validity of Piccolo's statement.

During this silence, Piccolo had scanned the kis on the base and spoke again. "I sense that Atsa is here as well. Did you come together?"

"We did," Sanatoasu spoke this time, "She insisted on bringing us here since we have offered our forces at her disposal against Funzen and Komugiko as well. We… couldn't really bear to see her plotting so feverishly over it, making sure that none of her men would get killed in the process."

The Namekku-sei-jin nodded. "That's part of the reason I agreed to become a general myself. I couldn't stand seeing her write until her hands cracked and bled."

Instead of saying anything further, the other men solemnly nodded their heads.

What would have been an awkward silence for Piccolo was interrupted by his father's disembodied voice, coming to him from a Three Twenty-two. "Piccolo! Piccolo, do you hear me?"

All three of them looked around themselves by instinct for the speaker before realizing what exactly was happening. Piccolo took on an angered face and answered his father. "Yes, I hear you. I'm at one of Atsarute's bases."

"I know. That's why I'm trying to contact your sorry ass. I sense others with you. Who are they?"

"Sanatoasu, lord of the Karigo-sei, and Kenturion, prince of Bella-sei. They are some of Atsarute's allies and personal friends."

"How personal? Since I have business to talk with you over her."

"Personal enough that I imagine they won't learn anything new from it. Go ahead." _If they don't already know, then I don't mind if they learn._

"I see. Well, I had to contact you to tell you that you'd better hurry up and forget about Atsarute if you want to keep your relationship with her a secret from the family. My mother… _your_ grandmother… Resuma, is already getting impatient with your single status."

"Really? What's the hurry?"

"Well, _normally_ males can wait to look for their mates, but the females can't… and if a male get picked by a female instead of the other way around…"

"So some girl picked me because I have an army and I'm in the royal family?"

"Not just some girl. _Several_ girls. You became the most sought male of the family. You've gotten a reputation for appearing so suddenly as being mysterious and… a bunch of other romance ideals."

He groaned. "For gods sake, I'm not interested! I don't care how fucking pretty they are or how much money they have! Tell her that I _decline_ all of them."

"It's not that goddamn simple, and you know it! I told you that she's getting impatient, and that means that she could arrange your marriage. My father Katatsu might have founded the planet, but _my mother Resuma_ is who, ultimately, calls the shots. And you don't have any binding with Atsarute… and if you're smart, you'll never make a binding and pretend that you two were never an item to begin with… I know how you feel, but this whole thing has dark shadows around it." Then his presence and voice was gone; he had turned off the Three Twenty-two.

The younger Namek's furious boiling seemed to have dropped suddenly into a still anxiety, and the truth in his father's words didn't settle well. _What should I do… about Atsa…_

As if reading his mind, Sanatoasu spoke up. "Atsa told us about how careful she was while she was with you… and told us that she was able to handle it," his tone was unusually sage-like, something like Goku's tone of voice when he actually says something somewhat intelligent and profound, "Trust her. If we didn't think that she had the strength for it, then we certainly wouldn't be so civil to you now about it."

A small smile came on Piccolo's face at such a random assurance. "Now I just have the problem… of avoiding an arranged marriage. With my luck, my grandmother would have something set up in stone before I could do anything about it…" And even if she didn't, he knew that he and Atsa couldn't… _wouldn't_… do anything legally.

Luckily for Piccolo, his father's words ran across his mind._ 'You don't have a binding with Atsarute.' _The smile slowly contorted into a mischievous smirk, and a deep, evil chuckle came from his chest.

"Sanatoasu, Kenturion… how aware are you of Namekku-sei-jin rituals?"

"Not _all_ of them, I'm certain… but a good deal seems to be common knowledge," Kenturion said.

Sanatoasu nudged his head in agreement. "I am quite aware of them as well."

"Good, good… Do either of you know much about the _binding_ ritual?"

Sanatoasu seemed confused, but Kenturion began to laugh. The lavender-haired prince spoke amongst his chuckles, "Don't tell me that you're going to do that to Atsa!"

Piccolo simpered. "With the help of you two, of course. I certainly hope you don't mind."

The lord's quizzical gaze didn't cease, so Kenturion brought him aside and whispered into his ear. Then he brought his head back with a look of surprise. "Oh gods! We couldn't do that to her!"

Kenturion's sniggering still had not stopped. "So what? She'll probably kill us afterwards, so we'll have the entire afterlife to repent afterwards!"

"Sometimes I think you're logic can be severely flawed, Kenturion." Sanatoasu smiled and turned to Piccolo. "But I'm in."

Piccolo spotted an infantry soldier from Atsarute's army passing my. "Oi! Where's the general?"

The young man looked back at him from the passageway he was about to enter. "Ah, I believe Atsarute-sama is training at the moment. Why?"

The three men burst out laughing. "Perfect!"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

By request, Neil was sent immediately to a Sui-sei villa, on an island far from the cities. The villa had no electronic devices, and it was determined that his levels were to be kept in check by advanced nurses and doctors who were trained in observing symptoms of instability in his blood levels without the luxury of said devices. They used less conventional means and tools, such as specific stones and plants that would change colors or positions depending on the magnetism and other qualities that radiated from his body. The domicile was heated through means of baked stones and steam, and it was lit up with a complex system of mirrors and outdoor torches.

It seemed that as soon as Neil was brought to the island, his condition improved dramatically. The doctors were baffled about how he had gone from definitively bedridden to almost perfectly healthy from such a transition. He was, however, still weak from being bedridden for so long, and he still suffered physical health issues whenever his blood levels did destabilize, but it was a definite improvement. It was if he had been completely cured of a mysterious disease from just the relocation.

Neil was asked again and again about how he knew that this distancing from electronic equipment would affect his health so positively, but he declined in explaining it. He knew that what little evidence he had was incredulous, and he still had no idea what this thing was that was attacking him in the first place. He thought about perhaps bringing it up with the more illustrious doctors, perhaps to find some answers, but he really felt that it had mostly to do with how all this political tension was shooting around, that it had something to do with Piccolo and Atsarute, with his mother and cousin, with the armies of every denomination involved.

_What doctor would seriously consider an illness from political aggressions?_ he thought, _Never mind that, even though it seems connected to all that, the cause of my illness seems to be this amorphous, spiritual form. Even if they did believe me, could such a thing be measured and eradicated by them?_

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Two Puroeriun soldiers busied themselves with a conversation as they walked down the halls of the base, coming into a minor debate that actually caused them to stop pace, as if they subconsciously wanted the rhetorical advantage of sight while they motioned their hands during the argument.

"I'm just saying," one soldier continued, waving his hands in the air as if he were smacking a podium, "that if there's going to be equality in the system, then the balance has to be tipped a little. That's all."

The other brought his hand to his waist and tilted his head with a raised brow. "But wouldn't the additional privilege ultimately infer more separation? This classification…"

"It's better than nothing, isn't it? If it's left like it is…"

"I see what you mean, don't misunderstand, but—"

One felt himself shoved forward. They turned to see that he had been elbowed by their general, Atsarute, still nude from training alone. "Out of my way!"

They watched, confused, as she ran down the hall. The soldiers were used to seeing her undressed, but it was unusual for her to be sprinting through the halls clothless in any case. Neither of them was without a thick blush.

"Wait, Atsa!" Three men came turning around the opposite corner and rushed past them as well. They were even more bewildered to see the Lord of Karigo-sei, the prince of Berra-sei, and the general of the Namekku-sei-jin forces, giving chase, laughing with wide grins on their faces. "You're afraid of a little bit of touching?" one crowed as they disappeared at the next turn.

"_You guys** suck!**_" Atsarute growled several halls down, followed by a trio of masculine laughter.

The two men were left blinking for a few minutes, speechless. Finally, one turned to the other. "Should we intervene?"

"I… don't know."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The Humans and Saiya-jin (the _Chikyuu-jin_, as the people of this universe like to call them) were given full authorization to come and go into Atsarute's bases as they pleased, and they did so. But besides Bulma and her father (who would come continuously out of scientific thirst), Goku and Gohan would often cross over to visit. Of course, it was given that Goku would have to come, seeing as his Instantaneous Movement was the only means of transport through the Three Twenty-two, but they seemed to have found a purpose there…

After the Saiya-jin pair took through some sparring with the soldiers, they decided to seek Dr. Arufuredo out. He didn't take long to find; he was still in an office, chatting with Dr. Briefs and Bulma about studies.

"Have you done much work with the Atlas balls and the training environments," Dr. Briefs asked just as Gohan and Goku entered the room.

Arufuredo nodded. "There're several people who can perform maintenance, but I try to do so myself whenever I can on them. Atsarute seems to see it as valuable to have a training soldier have this capability, so that training doesn't get terribly detained because of a breakdown."

"Hmm… Perhaps you could show me the components and the prints? I have my curiosity, of course, but Vegita's been wining on us both to have this made for him ever since he had the luxury to use the equipment here."

"The little prick's still bitching, eh?" Arufuredo laughed. "Well, I suppose if you make them over on your planet, he wont be coming over here to stink up the sparring chambers. Sure, I'll show you some of the prints and components."

Bulma was the first to acknowledge the entrance. "Goku! Gohan-kun! Are you finished training all ready?"

Gohan spoke first. "Well, actually, we want to speak with Arufuredo about some things."

"Ah, I see." She motioned to her father and they both rose.

Arufuredo stood and put his hand up. "Wait a moment." He opened a drawer and rooted through it, pulling out several blueprints and passing them to the older Human before him. "Here. Those are the prints you want. If you like, there's a disassembled Atlas ball in the lab three doors down to the left. No one would care if you took a poke."

Briefs nodded his thanks, and they both left the warriors alone.

Arufuredo sat again. "What is it exactly you wanted to talk to me about."

Goku's normally pleasant smile darkened. "It's about Atsarute."

* * *

Chikyuu-jin – Pretty much "earthling", since they all live on Earth.  
Yeah, I'm trying to be all cool about Faukan's name, like Quinton Tarantino. But the _real_ reason that his name was blacked out in the last chapter was because I _forgot_ to put his name in before I uploaded it, and I didn't realize it until well afterwards. Heh.  
And reading reviews is fun. That's why it's always good to feed your authors, kids. It gives their updates a healthy, hearty coat.  
School is ending. **_So that means…! DUN DUN…!_**  
Maybe. 


	39. Boundries

Disclaimer: Chapter 2.

Heh… that lime warning in the last chapter? It was a lie. Actually, I put it there earlier because I was _planning_ a lime (actually, I was originally planning a _lemon_), and then I changed my mind later for a different idea, forgetting about the warning in the process. No, that wasn't really a lime; it was just suggestive. My disclaimer was misleading (oh noes!).

* * *

"Atsarute-sama?" Dr. Arufuredo frowned and sat back down. "You're wondering about her?" 

Goku nodded and sat down. Gohan followed. There was an awkward silence before Gohan decided to break it.

"Atsarute-san has something strange on her… Well, that's not exactly right. It's more like… something's following her. Her shadow seems _heavy_, especially when Piccolo-san is nearby, and Otou-san says that he's noticed it too… And neither of us thinks that it could possibly be a good sign."

"A heavy shadow…" Arufuredo repeated, leaning forward onto the desk and folding his hands before his face.

"I also noticed," Goku jumped in, "the sound of something _breathing_ coming from Atsarute's shadow. It was much louder when she still had that talisman in her throat, but it quieted so much when she got rid of it that I thought it was gone, so I assumed it had to do with the curse. But lately, I've noticed that the sound is still there."

The scientist looked ahead thoughtfully for a few moments before responding. "There's a lot to consider here… and it seems to tie in with some other things that I've been doing research in."

"It does?"

"Yes…" He closed his eyes. "I'll have to bring this up along with some of my findings with Piccolo-sama later. He entrusted a task to me to do some research, and I've used it as a supplement to my study in particular aspects of Puroeriun culture. And this new information that you've brought me… might connect with some of it." He didn't stop speaking long enough for the two to respond. "I find it strange that you decided to come to me about this, though. Why didn't you go to Atsarute-sama or Piccolo-sama?"

"Because you're the person nearby her we know the best," Gohan answered, "and we thought that it's best that Piccolo-san and Atsarute-san didn't know about this yet. Are you really going to bring this up with Piccolo-san?"

"I am, but not with Atsarute-sama. I'm sorry, but the way things look… even though I agree that Atsarute-sama shouldn't yet know about what's been discovered… we might need to solidify all of our knowledge on the subject. You're right: it can't possibly be a good sign. It seems that something dangerous has been brewing."

He remembered Neil suddenly. "And it seems that it's already doing some damage."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Piccolo didn't even hear from Atsarute for a week or two after the binding ritual. Afterwards, she left the base forthwith to go do some surveying on another planet… but not before beating the shit out of all three men for embarrassing her by chasing her through her own halls. Even Sanatoasu was subject to her wrath… after all, even though he was much stronger, women have more stamina regarding these activities. All three men were pretty much left helpless, despite that they outnumbered her and surprised her by initiating the "attack". This is where sex and fighting seem to vastly differ, no matter how competitive or cooperative the subjects may take either.

Atsarute's anger was superficial at most, and they knew that. After all, after she thoroughly made certain that they wouldn't be able to raise themselves from the floor when she left, she chuckled and shook her head. Although there seemed to have been a spot more annoyance in her voice when she opened the door to a crowd of her men, all with eyes set awkwardly to the door. She barked at them to scatter, which they quickly did, and left.

So, Piccolo wasn't worried originally about not seeing Atsarute. After all, there were many intervals of time when they wouldn't have any contact with the other for whatever reason.

Funzen's forces were on the move, as were Komugiko's, and Piccolo had to work on covering the battle lines. His most recent battle was tiring; whereas a one-on-one fight might last a few hours, a battle between armies would last days, sometimes longer, and would require incredible endurance and willpower of the soldiers. And these battles were beginning to get longer and longer as Komugiko and Funzen solidified their own forces. When he returned, he was going to complain half-heartedly to Atsarute about not sending any forces to aid him, but, strangely enough, he wasn't able to get in contact with her.

It was almost a month before he did see her, and he had to go through a lot of trouble to do so.

Atsarute looked up at him sharply from her desk when Piccolo barged into her office. "What the Hell are you doing here?"

"I just heard that you're excluding my army from a large scale clash with Funzen and Komugiko's forces… that include _both_ Funzen and Komugiko in the ranks." Piccolo stared back at her with just as much ire. "You know very well that they've been getting more powerful! Don't you think that you should use all the help that you get in this situation?"

"Tch." She turned her head from him. "And you're supposed to be adept at strategy. You should know that bringing more soldiers in than necessary is wasteful, even harmful, in certain situations. This happens to be one of those situations."

"I've _seen_ what the odds are in this battle, Atsarute!"

"Then you should already know that you're help isn't needed. There's going to be another strike on a planet closer to Katatsu-sei. You should focus on that instead."

"But not all of my attention is required to suppress that strike. I can easily divide my forces; it's not like I have a lack of soldiers."

"Split your forces if you want, but you're not marching into _my_ battlefield. Got it?"

"Atsarute, you have to take this seriously."

"I _am_ taking this seriously! I always take possible casualties _very_ seriously." Atsarute shouted back at him. She finally stood, sneering, and pointed to the door. "Get out of here immediately, Piccolo. We have nothing else to discuss, and I've got work to do."

Piccolo actually felt a little startled. He expected Atsarute to be stubborn, but he didn't expect her to be so petulant to his suggestion, even his presence. Something in the back of his mind flashed that she might have been more bothered by the binding ritual than he thought, and a horrible dread settled in the wake of his surprise.

And his stillness only seemed to make her angrier. "I told you to get out of here! Do I have to call some of my men to escort you off the base?"

He clenched his jaw, furrowed his brows, and turned quickly, leaving anon.

The female general sighed and looked back down at her plans. These preparations were giving her a headache… she knew that if she allowed Piccolo's forces to fight as well, she wouldn't have to do so much detail work in the strategy, as there would be less to worry about. But allowing Piccolo's forces to enter was unacceptable…

She was already having a hard time finding a strategic way to isolate her men from her side during the battle.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Dr. Arufuredo intercepted Piccolo after the Namek had taken care of the strike, which took but a few hours to stop and clean up. By this time, Atsarute was already knee-deep into the battle that she'd been planning that morning.

"Piccolo-sama," the doctor began, "I've compiled some unsettling information regarding Atsarute-sama—" Piccolo tensed up. "—Goku-san and Gohan-san have discovered some unusual behavior in her… or rather… in her shadow."

"Her shadow?"

"They report that, to them, it seems _heavy_. At least, that's the term that they used. And Goku-san reported that it breathes as well." He paused for a moment. "He theorized that it had something to do with the curse, since it was breathing much more loudly before you removed the talisman."

"Breathing…" Piccolo thought for a moment. "Sanatoasu once mentioned something about hearing another person breathe… Is there some sort of connection, do you think?"

"I'm not sure," Arufuredo shook his head, "but I've actually found a verse in that folk song you gave me that correlates somewhat with this." Arufuredo pulled from the side a mass of papers, and handed Piccolo one with a stanza circled in red:

Dead breath is the thing

that can only be carried by pure water

Live breath is the thing

that can only be carried by white water

The end begins, the beginning ends

Full circle for the ancestors to us

"This is a particularly unusual stanza, since most of the song speaks of raiding towns, killing people, and taking money," Arufuredo added.

"'That can only be carried by pure water'…" Piccolo repeated aloud. "'Pure'… Perhaps… because Gohan, Goku, and Sanatoasu are all pure-hearted? That's why they can hear it?"

"That may be it," Arufuredo agreed, "And I've also thought that it might have something to do with Neil-san, so I visited him not long ago. He gave me accounts of a formless aggressor being the cause of his ailment, and he offered me a warning for you."

"A warning, huh?"

"He said, 'If Atsarute tells you to stay away, do as she asks, even if you think she could get killed. If you come near, she'll definitely die anyway.' He didn't really explain what he meant, but he wanted me to tell you."

Piccolo went silent for several minutes. Arufuredo spoke again. "In any case, whatever this thing is, it's dangerous. We'll have to figure out what it is immediately. It's already attacked Neil-san, and it might be preparing to move against Atsarute-sama. The breathing… Goku-san said that the breathing quieted substantially when she got rid of the talisman. We could start there."

"How did she get the curse in the first place, anyway? It was uttered by a man that she killed, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, from what I've heard, it was from a particularly strong general that she defeated in battle about half a year before we found her as a 'walking fiend', and you were a 'catalyst' because she claimed to have somehow seen your death after his defeat and the psychic link left her vulnerable to his curse. His name was… General Buritz." A slight shock appeared in Arufuredo's eyes, and he removed his glasses to rub his temples.

"What is it?"

"I just remembered… that he was Funzen's father."

"…What?"

Arufuredo replaced his glasses. "And the main stanza of that song talks about a dying man's breath being one of the most dangerous things. But it can't be the curse! You took care of that!"

"Yeah, when I disconnected the talisman, I—" Piccolo haulted and clenched his fists. "—Fuck, no."

"You _did_ disconnect it, Piccolo-sama! I witnessed her cough it up, along with your acquaintances from Earth. It's not a problem anymore."

Piccolo felt himself go cold, and he shook his head slowly. "I took care of the talisman that was augmenting the curse, but that's it. _The curse is still there!_"

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

The armies were fully underway with the battle. There was an obvious advantage of one side over the other, that being in Atsarute's army favor. The soldiers were focused and already too dulled by the drug of bloodshed to do anything but fight. And they certainly couldn't take time to focus on anything else.

It was easy for Atsarute to separate herself from them.

Funzen curled his mouth and licked his lips, and his wife beside him made a confident smirk.

"You were right," the queen said, "about her coming out alone. Even my peering into the stream couldn't have predicted this."

"I suppose you could say that my father left me more than an army," Funzen said proudly, and the pair stepped out before Atsarute.

Atsarute glared at them solidly before dropping into stance without a word.

Komugiko extended her sword before her. "You will finally meet your end here, demon!" Funzen expelled some ki, and the spikes on his armor churned about maliciously. Atsarute mentally remarked that if these two procreated, Komugiko would not birth a person, but a crusade, given the looks of these two as they stood before her.

Funzen's eyes narrowed as his smirk stretched. "The spirits are on our side this time, Atsarute."

* * *

Hmm… -scratches head- I'm making things move a lot… The climax is soon… I think it'll be the next chapter…  
Hmmm….  
.-walks off- 


	40. Explanation

Disclaimer: That chapter two. Oh chapter two. What would I do without chapter two? -smacks self- This chapter describes some… situations.

And now—DUN DUUNN– what you've all been waiting for…!

…Not really. But you'll have fun anyway.

* * *

**Dr. Arufuredo's Explanation of the Namekkian Binding Ritual**

Because of the great population of Namekku-sei-jin within civilized communities, many of their rituals and cultural habits are common knowledge. But one of the more intriguing rituals is that of "binding" between a male and a female Namekku-sei-jin. It's not notable because of any elaborateness or orthodox methods used within it… in fact, the expressions of this ritual varies from the casual night with a few people to the grand-scale party. But it is, nevertheless, a common ritual.

The purpose of the ritual is to acknowledge the "binding" between female to her mate (or mates), which is really simply that of copulation, and is meant to accent her separation from men who would _not_ be her mate. This separation, however, is not meant to be hostile in terms of the separation, perhaps because their population is so thick. In fact, the ritual emphasizes peaceful relations between the new and former mates, and it does not symbolize a "cut off" between the female and her former mates; it is more of a fond farewell. As such, this is often one of the rituals in a Namekkian marriage, which will usually involve her new husband and her past husbands (or her past lovers if she's not had many husbands yet).

The ritual goes as follows:

The female is "abducted" by her current mate and her former mate (either case of former or current mates could be plural, but I shall use the singular throughout this explanation). Of course, this abduction couldn't be entirely against her will, since Namekku-sei-jin women are able to easily subdue men due to their evolutionary biochemistry, but they often begin with tricking her to bring her to the place they have chosen to "corner" her. It's by the mate's digression whether or not any outside parties will be present or even aware of this happening (though by law, punishable by fine, they must tell at least one of her family members if she's to be abducted for more than two full days, to ensure that there isn't an unnecessary missing persons report filed).

There's some digression used if the female is unable to subdue the males if she herself does not wish to continue with the ritual. Since most Namekku-sei-jin women can emit chemicals to calm down male Namekku-sei-jin, it's always considered that if she doesn't make the mates stop their pursuit, she has their permission to continue. But if the males aren't Namekku-sei-jin, if she isn't, or if there's a problem with chemical transmission on either account, the pursuit is placed in terms where the female would be able to have some sort of way to stop it; some give her stunning weapons beforehand, some chase her through an area where she might have hired guards, etc.

When she is "cornered", the mates and ex-mates proceed to do what Namekku-sei-jin call "the welding" part of the ritual. There are many variations of the welding, but they tend to be most popularly sexual interaction upon the female with both the mates and the ex-mates. Often, the ex-mates can't go so far as actual copulation with the female, whereas the mates would. This is the part of the ceremony that symbolizes the "passing on" of the female in good faith; since they both interact, but only the current mates get to penetrate, they're expressing that although old fondness may exist, the parties are able to move on.

At the end of "the welding", the ritual may abruptly end, or there might be a more systematic approach. The female will usually escort any audience out if any were invited as soon as she is able before lighting candles or incense to do contemplation until the audience has emptied and the ex-mates wake (sometimes the ex-mates choose to reserve their energy to remain awake after the welding). The ex-mates will usually be given one last show of affection (of how is by the female's choice) before being abruptly expelled from the residence. Then she spends time alone with her mate for the rest of the night.

That's it! Huh? _…No_, I _don't _have any diagrams for this.

* * *

-scurries off cackling- 


	41. Most Dangerous

Disclaimer: Somewhere else. That somewhere being chapter 2.

We've been lazy. We've been busy thinking more about Us than Our fans. Katamari is on crack. Well… more likely weed or acid.  
I rode on roller coasters!

* * *

"Piccolo-sama! You can't!" Arufuredo tried in vain to halt the Namek as he stomped down the hall towards the landing bay. "You can't just burst into the middle of a battle like this!" 

"Who's going to stop me?" Piccolo growled back. "Atsarute's out there, about to do something incredibly stupid, and she purposely pushed me away. She knows that she's still under that curse, and yet she's in conflict against Funzen and Komugiko as we speak! What else am I supposed to do?"

"Consider Neil-san's warning to stay away! She did request it, right?"

"Che! Neil's likely delirious from the illness he's under!"

"That's not it, and you know it! That… formless thing… whatever it was… General Buritz or what… has been attacking him, and is forming a revenge on her! Neil-san's using what he's endured to be able to warn you!"

Piccolo abruptly stopped in the middle of a hall. "Then what do you suggest? That I stay here and stand idly by as this curse acts against her?"

"No, but… perhaps you can go to her war brig that's orbiting the planet that they're battling on. You'll at least be the first to hear anything from the battlefield, if nothing else."

He gave a tired growl. "Fine. Let's hurry, then."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Atsarute's defense had changed drastically since the last time either Funzen or Komugiko battled her. They both wondered if it was due to some technique that she might have developed over the past while, or if she was changing her dodging and blocking styles for some unpronounced purpose. Funzen assumed that it must have had something to do with her unusual behavior otherwise, that the ghost of his father had warned him about.

Funzen had wanted revenge against Atsarute ever since his father was slain, and when he began to get feverish dreams about his father trying to reach him, he assumed that he was enduring a nervous breakdown. But when he decided to listen to his father, he found that his father was aiding him, leading a way for him to exact that revenge.

And here the prize was before him, scampering away from his and Komugiko's blows like a rat. He would feel some amount of satisfaction from the scene, except that he couldn't put one scratch on her.

Komugiko thrust her sword out, just to stab air again. Her reward was a kick to her head by Atsarute's booted foot, sending her face-first into the ground. Funzen tried to follow up with a strike while Atsarute was busy with the counter, but only earned a knee crashing up under his chin.

_I have to limit her from moving around so much…_ he thought to himself as he wiped the blood from his mouth, _She's obviously protecting more than her vitals by how she's dodging. She'll tire herself out more quickly with this kind of defence, but I can't wait until she's winded to strike. _He looked over at a mountain, and recalled how this planet's rock was particularly dense and compressed. And a plan came to mind.

He motioned for Komugiko to follow his lead, and he went for a quick swipe. Atsarute dodged in the direction he hoped. He tried again, with the same result. Komugiko did the same, and the two forced their enemy back towards the mountain face with her own movements. Atsarute herself seemed to be too preoccupied with her defense to realize that she was being cornered.

Her back had touched the mossy rock before it dawned on her. She made a quick glance behind her before looking at her adversaries to weigh out her possibilities. Komugiko was giving motions to show that she would be attacking if she ran towards her. Funzen pulled out a bull-rush before launching himself shoulder-first towards Atsarute's head.

There was nowhere to run.

If Atsarute didn't jump upwards, her head would be crushed. If she did, she would still be wounded in the abdomen, but at least she would be alive. If she tried to duck, she would still be pierced by Funzen's other spikes on his armor, and likely be finished off by Komugiko.

Her mental decision, spurred by a new kind of instinct, was to not move.

Her cursed body with its primal instincts ruling over her reason made her jump.

Funzen's spinning stakes dug deep into her flesh like some sort of morbid food processor before she could fling herself off. She fell several meters away to the ground, an airborne train of blood following her before raining to the dirt as well. The pair looked at her with satisfaction as she dragged herself miserably up onto her forearms, staring down in horror.

"You finally got a taste of your own medicine, Atsarute," Komugiko growled proudly. "Your terror will _never_ ripple through the universe again!"

Atsarute pulled herself onto her knees, still looking down at her gaping abdomen. Her mouth was open, her bottom lip was trembling, and only small, stuttered sounds catching in her throat came as her voice. Her weapon had dropped helplessly at her side.

Funzen came forward, lifting his sword high to do his final blow, a smile forming.

_Wait!_ His late father's voice came to him. _He's not here!_

Funzen hesitated. "Who?" he said aloud, "Who isn't here?"

_That Namek! I thought that he would surely come! I was sure that he'd be here to stop her!_

"'Stop her'?"

_She can't stop now. Hurry! Run, my son! Run!_

Funzen's eyes shot down when Atsarute made a sudden motion. She had thrust her hands completely into her own wound. Before he could wonder, her head threw back, and she screamed. It was a shrill, horrible scream that chilled with its anguish and abnormality. He and Komugiko clamped their hands over their ears, squeezing their eyes closed as if it could help. Before long, blood ran down their arms from their ears, and they began to feel weak. An emotion seized them… the kind of emotion that would follow happiness and contentment right after they were ripped apart with pain and cold unfamiliarity. Their senses were pulling apart in different directions, being eroded by the scream.

Everything went black, and they fell to the ground. They were still alive, but because they didn't have minds to tell their lungs to breathe, their bodies quickly died of asphyxiation. Their hearts seemed to have only been working for that long because these muscles didn't seem to want to stop their rapid beats.

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

News spread quickly, and all the acquaintances from Earth managed to pull up into the orbiting war brig along with Piccolo and Arufuredo. Many of them were timidly still as they waiting in the observatory, occasionally looking over to the immense window that gazed outside, down to the silver planet below. Its white wisps of clouds contrasted starkly over the dark oceans. One area churned as if being stirred, betraying a large storm at sea.

There weren't a lot of words uttered as they waited. A few of them would even jump whenever a sound came to announce reports of a new development in the battle.

Now they were each trying to find something to occupy themselves with: Bulma and her father both pulled out small computers; Gohan and Videl began to chat about whatever they could pull up about their mutual friends; Chi-Chi dragged Goku aside and tried to start a conversation; Arufuredo tried to do some work, until Vegita decided to start an argument with him; Kuririn tried to amuse himself with Vegita and Arufuredo's argument.

Piccolo meditated. He always meditated. He didn't even flinch whenever another report would come in. And with Piccolo's attitude, it was difficult to tell if he's doing so to keep himself occupied, or if he was seriously training for the purpose of training.

Looking over this scene was Jakkaru, the man left behind to see over the ship while Atsarute fought. This was an unusual assignment for him; jobs that required any amount of tact were rarely given to him. He was the trustworthy, right-hand man that would seem little more than a meat shield at several occasions (although Barricade and Big Man were better suited to be called "meat shields" than he). This was an assignment for Suraku, not him.

He felt as though Atsarute was pushing him away for some purpose, as if she didn't want him by her side for this battle. The notion seemed unusual; no matter how the battles have ever raged, he never left her side, and she always seemed grateful for this. Why wouldn't she want him there now? Not knowing made Jakkaru increasingly more anxious.

The console wined again. The sound didn't jostle the others as it had been doing, but they did turn silent in their conversations and avert their heads (all except Vegita, who was still raving at an inattentive Arufuredo, and Piccolo, still meditating).

Jakkaru pressed a button, bringing up the image of a soldier. "Report."

The soldier did some sort of salute before continuing. "Jakkaru, the battle has ended. The enemy has been completely eradicated. Komugiko and Funzen have been confirmed as dead. No survivors."

He nodded. "Casualties and wounded?"

"No casualties. The wounded are higher and more grievous than past battles with these forces, but nothing to worry about, except…"

"'Except'? Except what?"

"Atsarute-sama has been wounded. She has been immediately healed and is in no danger, but she was found in some sort of… _madness_… before she passed out."

"Is she still unconscious?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have her brought to the observatory when she reaches the ship. Will her medic be accompanying?"

"After the healing is completed and the troops are being transported back to the brig, she will come along with the medic that healed her. He seems to have some information regarding her behavior that he wishes to explain."

"How long will the healing take?"

"Not long. Atsarute seemed to have predicted this and assigned extra healing Nameks to this mission's medical unit. I have already set up the transports to return to the war brig, and we'll be there in fifteen minutes. If any healing is still required, I've ordered the wounded to be brought to the sick bay."

"Good man. That's all I have. Jakkaru out." He flipped it back off and stood. The soldier was true to his word, and the ship was soon bustling with more people. Things seemed to have gotten particularly hectic when Atsarute was brought up into the observatory, still reclined on a stretcher. Her clothes were torn and bloodied, and her whole body, even though it was without wounds, was ruddy and looked oddly weak.

The Namekku-sei-jin that treated her came forward to Jakkaru after the soldiers were ordered to return to their quarters to rest. "I wish to place a report on Atsarute-sama's behavior."

Jakkaru took a moment to look over the Namek boy, whose robes were sullied with bloody handprints. "Proceed."

"I was able to approach Atsarute-sama during the last leg of the battle, when victory was inevitable and our troops were really only cleaning up what remained of the enemy's forces. Funzen and Komugiko were dead nearby, but they didn't seem to have died from battle wounds. From what I could tell of their faces, they seem to have died from lack of air."

"Strange… What about Atsarute?"

"Atsarute-sama was still conscious at the time, but she didn't seem to have been quite sane at first. She was repeatedly muttering something in Sui-go, and her hands were wrist deep into her own organs. She appeared to have been pulling organs out of her abdomen."

"_What?_ Why? Was she trying to kill herself, or something?"

"At first, that's what I thought, so I attempted to stop her. But she wailed madly and pushed me away. Then I realized that what she was pulling out of her abdomen was _not_ her organs." He motioned to a medical container that was placed beside Atsarute when she was brought in. "I gathered this tissue that she had extracted up for inspection. If I'm correct, then it's not some small matter."

"I'll check over the tissues," Arufuredo quickly volunteered.

"Good work," Jakkaru said, "You're dismissed. Go clean yourself up."

He nodded a small bow and quickly left the room. Arufuredo picked up the box and brought it to one of the empty sickbays for the inspection. During this time, Atsarute kept still on the stretcher. A couple of her soldiers came in with hygiene equipment and began to wash off the blood and grime from her as she slept, though this action wasn't ordered by any of their superiors. They even removed her torn and bloodied garb and gave her a clean change of clothes, an outfit that resembled a sort of pajama sleepwear.

Arufuredo returned, his face grim, and he opened his mouth to speak what he'd found.

Atsarute sat straight up like a corpse without embalming fluid and hissed loudly, her eyes wide open and glassy. Many of them jumped. Piccolo snapped right out of his meditation.

Everyone was afraid to move, but Atsarute picked herself up. "Where is he?" She muttered, and she threw her head around as if looking for something. "Where is he?"

Piccolo stood and came up to her. "Atsa."

Atsarute seemed to look at him for a moment, but she pushed him away. "Where is he?" Her search seemed to have been getting more frantic as she knocking things over and slapped people away. Goku and Gohan could hear the breathing in her shadow louder than ever.

"Where is _who_, Atsa?" Jakkaru tried to ask, only to get shoved away as well.

The search seemed to stop, and Atsarute looked over at Bulma briefly before running up to her and grabbing her by the arms. The motion startled Bulma, and she squirmed to get out of her grip, but Atsarute only held harder, and her strength was beginning to hurt. Atsarute's glazed eyes looked at Bulma, or through Bulma, or into Bulma… it was hard to place what she was looking at… until she shook her head and released her. "No… that one's female…"

"Atsarute-sama," Arufuredo called out as she continued her search for this unknown person, and he held out a couple of objects that were too small and covered with blood to be able to determine. She approached him, staring at these objects, and she closed her eyes and placed a hand on her head as if she had a headache. "Ugh…"

Goku and Gohan tensed and stood straight. The breathing just disappeared.

"Ngh…what…?" Atsarute looked at the people around her.

"Atsarute-sama, are you alright?" Arufuredo said in concern.

"Yeah… yeah, I'm okay…"

"Do you need anything?"

"…Drink. A drink. Water." She stabled herself and looked over at Piccolo before she dragged herself to the door. "I'm going to my quarters… No one is to… disturb…"

When she had left, Arufuredo pocketed the objects and pulled out a medical device that he'd been testing with just a few minutes ago. He crossed over to Bulma and ran the sensor over her, looking at the readings.

"What are you doing?" Bulma was still blinking from the encounter.

Instead of answering, Arufuredo exhaled and put the device away again. "Congratulations, Bulma-san. You're pregnant."

"Wh-what? I'm pregnant?" She stepped back. "But why was Atsarute—"

"Because you're pregnant," he said before pulling out the objects from before again, "This is part of what she had pulled out of herself earlier."

Bulma leaned over to look more closely. "They appear to be… a small bone… and a piece of eggshell. What does that mean?"

He placed the bone in her palm. She took it as a motion to inspect it even more and brought it up before her face. "It's a femur, still in development." Then it hit her like a ton of bricks, and it showed clearly on her face. "She was…"

"I don't know what it triggered in Atsarute-sama, but it sure as Hell leaves a lot out of the ordinary in the wake. What the fuck happened down there?"

Piccolo removed the shell that was still in Arufuredo's hand and inspected it. It clearly resembled the shell of a Namekku-sei-jin egg. "The most dangerous things…"

* * *

I wrote this whole fucking chapter in one setting, and right after finishing a chapter for SITO. Proudness!  
Maybe it's because of my new Poe action figure.  
By the way, if you haven't realized it yet, this was the climax.  



	42. Frantic Population

Disclaimer: What the hell was chapter 2's name again? I've forgotten… -checks- OH! It's called, "Substance of a Remote Universe"! Damn, figures that the legal stuff would be in a chapter with such a name…

College… Applied Music/Classics double major… supposed to have 2 hours of practicing a day… lots of reading for each class…  
But, as you guys should have figured from the past, I _never_ get my priorities straight. :)

* * *

This information took maybe 10 minutes to spread through the brig. Atsarute-sama had become pregnant and lost the child in battle. Jakkaru was in a state of unusual panic, as if the ground he had walked confidently on for so many years had just been subject to an earthquake, for a good while. There were points of time where he seemed to have been just standing in place, blinking and mumbling incoherent syllables, before he finally got his wits to him. 

It seemed that as soon as he allowed himself to calm down, he knew exactly what was going on. He spoke to Dr. Arufuredo briefly on it before going to get in contact with the royal family back at Sui-sei, and confirmed Dr. Arufuredo's diagnosis. Jakkaru's whole family was always quite close to the royal family, so he understood exactly what had happened.

The Chikyuu-jin were taken aside, away from the soldiers who were now fluttering through the halls and passageways like frantic insects. The war brig was already en route back to Sui-sei. Arufuredo tried to explain, to the best of his ability, his findings and what he could surmise after speaking with Jakkaru.

"In my study in some of the oddities of Puroeriun culture," Arufuredo began, "I found that they had unusual laws in their system, particularly ones that were taken off the system many generations ago, as well as some that are still on record but never really recognized anymore. Laws that included sound insulation within hospitals, strange laws about the procedure of abortion that changes between localities, and unusual marriage laws just to name a few. Most of them are thousands of years old and, since I'm not adept with Sui-go as it is, older legal tongues are beyond my grasp. But Jakkaru-san confirmed my suspicions…

"A couple thousand years ago on Sui-sei, they had been enduring a bad overpopulation. I'm not sure if I would say it's as bad as Namekku-sei-jin generally have it, but it was bad enough. Famine was evident throughout the planet, almost every province was overcrowded, and about 70 of the population lived in conditions of poverty. The waters were enduring pollution from this and living underwater at the time was unsafe, so the option to do so for them was not a good one (even though many took their chances anyway). They were unable at the time to colonize on other planets, since their space exploration technology at the time was mediocre and expensive.

"So, the government attempted a great deal of things to ease the population, going from a rise in executions, to public campaigns on abstinence and even sterilization. None of these things worked, and it was getting to the point where they would have to be forced to eradicate whole portions of the population just so that they wouldn't end up starving themselves out of existence…"

Bulma interrupted. "But, wait, why was there such overpopulation in the first place? I mean, usually when cultures get so large, they've already been preparing means to colonize elsewhere, but you said that their space technology was inadequate? Why?"

The doctor nodded. "As far as I've come to understand through Jakkaru-san, there were two reasons: One, the planet had just recently come into peace under one rule, that being the current royal family. Worldwide peace means the eradication of war… something that the people of Sui-sei had to endure perhaps more than even your cultures over the years… and this was a major check on their population. And the second reason…"

He sighed and shook his head. "Puroeriun used to have a genetic problem… well, perhaps _problem_ isn't the right word… It was an evolutionary advantage that they'd obtained. When a Puroeriun female becomes pregnant, she becomes more aware of the child than herself; that's not unusual as most races have similar behaviors. But they seem to be particularly aware, and their hormonal balances are a little different. To be particular, there seemed to have been certain saturations on the vocal cords…

"Laws from this time and before had regulated marriage in accordance to the occupations of both parties, but particularly of the occupation of the woman. There was a lot of attention put on singers, warriors, soldiers, orators, etc. This was because there is something about the saturation of the vocal cords during pregnancy that must be watched and regulated. That something… that something is what happens during a miscarriage, particularly if the miscarriage is late in term and is forced.

"Miscarriage puts hormonal signals to the woman's brain, and she involuntarily starts to scream loudly. The scream is shrill and piercing, able to gain attention from anyone within 4 kilometers… sometimes more if the woman has particularly strong lungs. But the saturation does more than gain attention, but is directly defensive otherwise… It also causes the woman to use her 'ki' involuntarily to travel in the wavelengths of the scream. This combination can be physically damaging… even killing people who happen to be nearby."

"So," Piccolo pointed, "that song that she always sings…"

"It's from before those times when the Puroeriun still had that physical property… actually dating back before they had mechanical transportation, I surmise. I could barely touch the Sui-go version of that song because of how old the language is, so it's good that you had an English version, too."

"Wait a minute, Arufuredo-san." Gohan's eyes went big. "When they 'still had that physical property'? Isn't this what Atsarute-san did?"

He nodded. "Yes, but let me finish. Back to the time of overpopulation, they might not have had a very good space program at the time, but they were advanced in genetics and were already working on a way to eradicate the scream though a recessive trait that did not have the lethal effects of the scream in the population. The procedure was perfected and every pregnancy after this point was regulated and altered to ensure that the baby wouldn't carry the lethal-scream gene. But there was one family that did not, out of reasons to ensure heirs, go through this process."

"The royal family," Kuririn finished, then shook his head. "That's awful. I mean, I can see why it'd be useful, but isn't every person in that family a warrior, and generals to boot? Atsarute's lucky that she only effected Funzen and Komugiko…"

"I doubt Atsa was so much lucky as much as she planned for it," Piccolo spoke in, "She would not let me enter into battle with her, as well as she kept my own forces, which she cannot control, from entering. She was completely isolated from her men, and she didn't let soldiers like Jakkaru, who doesn't leave her side in battle, so much as step foot on the field. She knew what could happen."

Arufuredo nodded. "This is what the royal family laws on marriage comes from, too. Old laws, from what I was able to surmise, had similar restrictions on warrior females' marriages, and the family was a warrior family as far back as could be defined. This is to keep the husband, in case they are side by side in battle or if they're sparring, from dying if she something like this happens, since he'd likely be able to handle the ki output in the scream if he's stronger."

"So that law isn't so much misogynistic as it is from practicality." Bulma nodded.

"Correct."

Piccolo seemed to have gotten enough of the conversation and went for the door. The others shot their eyes towards him, most worried, some at least a little agitated. He felt their eyes on him and looked back at them sharply. "I'm going to go talk to her."

"Piccolo-sama, I don't think," Arufuredo shut his mouth and swallowed his words. Gohan stared intently at the ground while his father continued to look on with a face mixed with worry and half-dead confusion from the whole conversation.

Vegita merely sneered more. "Want to make that stupid woman feel worse about herself, or get her pissed off at you since you're the one responsible for all this shit in the first place?"

"Vegita!" Bulma growled and hit his arm. Surprisingly, Instead of pressing on, Vegita dropped his scowl and glanced over at her.

His angry glare came back quickly, however, when he redirected his attention to Arufuredo. "You said that Bulma's pregnant, right?"

Arufuredo frowned back at Vegita, but decided not to get defensive. "Yes. With a girl, I surmise."

"You were able to tell that from those readings you have of her?"

The scientist shook his head. "No, it's too early for the sensors in my weak field device to pick up biological gender, but Atsarute-sama seemed to have been able to. When she said 'No, that one's female'... it makes sense because the fetus in Atsarute-sama was male."

"How would that woman be able to figure that when she was half-insane?"

"I told you before, the hormonal balance in a pregnant Puroeriun makes them sensitive to their children. It likely made her sensitive to other fetuses as well."

The Namek shook his head. "If you'll excuse me…" He opened the door, nearly slamming into Jakkaru as he was coming in from the other side. Piccolo quickly moved around the large man and went down the hall.

Jakkaru looked back at the Namekkian's wake. "Uh, I just came to say that we've reached Sui-sei orbit… And… Derosen and King Naiosai are now on board."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Piccolo was almost to Atsarute's quarters when he felt someone grab him from the back of his neck and thrash him against a wall. He turned around, screaming, "What the fuck's your problem?" before realizing the person responsible was Derosen.

The sneering prince of Sui-sei gathered up Piccolo's collar into his fists and held him up, slamming the Namek into the wall again. The Namek winced, remembering that Atsarute's older brother was stronger than herself, and knew instantly that he wouldn't be able to get out of this unexpected situation easily.

"_My_ problem! How about _your_ problem!" Derosen hissed, his pale, green face, darkened by his flush of anger, only a few centimeters from the Namek's dark green face, "Do you have any idea what you've done! Do you know what could have happened to her! You damned Namek! This whole thing is _your_ fault!"

"It began as her idea. I wasn't even aware until—" Piccolo's protest was cut short by Derosen slamming him into the wall again, effectively knocking out his breath.

"Don't give me excuses, Namek! What you've just done is unforgivable! She could have been lost in that battle because of this! What the fuck were—"

"Derosen!" King Naiosai appeared behind him and pulled him away, causing him to drop the winded Piccolo onto the floor. "I understand your feelings, but you shouldn't let your anger take over your judgment like this."

Derosen looked back at his father with hurt anger and wrenched his shoulder out from under his father's grasp. He then stomped over to Atsarute's door, just 10 meters down the hall, and, instead of pressing a button that acted as a doorbell to these rooms, banged his fist loudly on the door's surface, reverberating throughout the hall with its volume. "Atsa! Come out! I want to talk to you!"

There was a slight hum as the sound of pounding settled coming from the door, and a voice from the other side said, albeit muffled, rather clearly, "Go away."

"Atsa! Atsa, damnit come out! Or at least let me in. Please!"

Piccolo and Naiosai didn't move, only glancing over at him. Piccolo kept looking back at Naiosai, who, although didn't look at him in anger and hate as Derosen did, kept his eyes averted from the Namek stubbornly, and even fidgeted slightly when he felt Piccolo's eyes fall on him. He might not have been raging like his son, but he didn't seem comfortable in Piccolo's presence all the same.

"Look, Mother doesn't know about it yet, and when she find's out, she'll likely have a fit. Knowing her, she probably got it in her mind to hate that Piccolo as it is, and when she finds out about this… I don't know what she'll do, but it won't be pretty. There's no way I'm going to tell her, and Father…" he looked over at Naiosai.

The king's dark face paled to the shade of his son's and his eyes turned wide. He set his mouth in a thin line and shook his head slowly. It would figure. Out of all the people in Sui-sei, the one who fears Queen Aikanefi the most is her husband. He was even known to disappear for weeks on end to avoid her wrath. Of course, it was known that he was one of the strongest Puroeriun, much stronger than his wife since he was able to best her in combat. The scenario would sound eerily familiar to anyone who knew the Son family back at Earth very well.

"Father is out of the question. So you should be the one to tell her."

This got more of a rise from the door. "Oh _Hell_ no! You're not going to get me to tell her something like that! I'll never hear the end of it, and I'll probably have to _sneak_ off of the planet to get away. God, I don't want to have to do that again. I'd feel childish, sneaking away like I did when I was younger. Get Jako to do it!"

"Jako will turn into a sniveling babe ten minutes into explaining it. Either that, or he'll feel defensive and start yelling at her. We all know how that'll end. Look, at least let me come in, and talk to you."

The other side was silent.

"Derosen, it'd be best to leave her be," Naiosai suggested from the side.

He didn't listen. Still livid, he banged on the door again. "Atsa! Let me in! We really have to talk about this! I don't care about the Namek, I don't care about the public, I don't even care about what Mother might think! Damnit all, just let me in! Please!" Pause. "Atsa!"

Still silent.

Derosen's own anger seemed to have been dying, the flushed anger in his face dwindling and the furrowed brows dropping back. His whole face could be seen falling into sorrow, and his bellowing voice even softened. "Damnit, Atsa. Please… Let me in…" He bit his lip and wiped roughly at his own face, which Piccolo realized had started to glisten with wetness. "Please Atsa…damnit, you… you promised…"

He choked for a moment and spoke again. His sonority had risen, but this time his voice had no anger, but was instead full of anguish. "You _promised_ me you wouldn't let this happen to you, Atsa!"

* * *

I love finishing things in practically one sitting (it would have been one sitting if I didn't have to do to class about halfway though it). I even already started the next chapter. 


	43. Promise

Disclaimer: Chapter two. Ha!

* * *

It was well known that Queen Aikanefi was quite the strong warrior in her prime, perhaps even stronger than her daughter is now. Her behavior was quite like her daughter's, too, often going out with her army, or going out alone with a small band of comrades. An adventurous general, with soldiers willing to die for her command, traveling every end of the universe… this was a stark contrast to the woman who now barely left her throne on Sui-sei. 

The two children from her union with Naiosai, Derosen and Atsarute, are known enough. Their births were celebrated around the planet (Derosen's children have been given quite similar treatment). But few knew that Aikanefi had been pregnant five times, not only two. This was mentioned publicly, of course, but wasn't as sensational and much more quickly forgotten than the births.

Her first pregnancy was not long after her marriage, and it ended in miscarriage tragically during a sparring session with her new husband, Naiosai. It was an unusual and unfortunate event. Even though Naiosai was stronger physically than Aikanefi, the marriage tests were unable to test mental strength. In that, Aikanefi trumpted; she was able to transmit, manipulate, and hold more ki in her weaker body than Naiosai ever could.

She didn't realize the danger her new husband was until almost halfway through the scream. His eyes were rolling back, and he was losing consciousness. She used any concentration she could muster to reverse the ki flow, but was still unable to stop it. She ended up inflicting pain on herself, and both passed out, wounded, in the training fields before someone came in to aid them. They had both been injured seriously, but no permanent damage was done.

The second pregnancy resulted in the birth of Derosen, and a family was formed. Derosen was a bright boy, and he showed a lot of promise almost since the beginning. As soon as he was old enough, he would usually accompany his parents as they left the planet for whatever reason (usually political or economical) and although he wasn't exactly a boy of good behavior, he was, nonetheless, quick and good towards his parents.

He was the equivalent of about seven Earth years in age when his mother got pregnant for a third time. This one ended even worse than the first, this time on the battlefield with her husband beside her. They didn't expect her to miscarry in such a minor battle. But the worst part was that Aikanefi had nearly died from reversing the ki flow to keep Naiosai from getting hurt, and had suffered permanent crippling.

Seeing your mother reduced to such a state is frightening and even traumatizing to a child as young as Derosen was. She was in bed for days, delusional, mumbling things that he didn't understand, reaching out and grabbing him suddenly from time to time. When she was finally fully healed, there was damage to a few organs (mostly superficial), but more importantly, her strength was diminished.

He was very tentative during the third pregnancy, but that ended well with the birth of a little sister. He was ten at the time, and he was happy to see that not only would his mother remain all right, but he would also get a sibling to sympathize with him. He was a little disappointed at first that it was a girl, but his parents seemed deliriously happy that they had one of each to continue the line, and he accepted it.

In fact, little Atsarute proved to grow well into becoming his best friend. She was every bit as bright as him, and the royal genes that quicken the younger siblings maturation to catch up with the eldest made her soon aware enough to understand vastly more than most children would (or should) at that age.

The fifth pregnancy was about three or four years later. This one simply miscarried as a fluke as Aikanefi wasn't doing anything particularly dangerous at the time; it was possibly caused by a combination from the failure in the third pregnancy and what stress the birth of Atsarute might have caused on her already scarred uterus. But the result left Aikanefi in just as bad of a state as she was when Derosen last remembered.

She was still in a delirious state when the doctors announced to the rest of the family that her lifestyle would now have to be drastically changed from her active and involved behavior to a more static and subdued nature. It would turn out that this decision suited Aikanefi just fine; she was actually getting tired of having to do all the work, and would much rather now recline and let the exuberant lifestyle of her status pamper her. But at the time, it seemed like it would be a terrible blow.

After the doctor had politely bowed and made his leave, Derosen realized how upset his little sister was. She sniffled and choked on her tears, biting her lips… the site looked strange on the little reptile (the reptilian looks natural to their race's youth). She wrung her small hands around each other and looked up at her brother anxiously.

"You're worried about mother, aren't you?" He laid a hand on her head, trying to make himself sound reassuring.

She bit harder into her lip and choked again before answering. "Sorta…" He looked down at her with a raised brow a moment before she continued. "Dero, that's going to happen to me, too, isn't it?"

Derosen felt his heart drop, and he went to his knees, moving his hands to weigh down on her shoulders as he looked straight at her. She was so young, but she already had the body development of children three years older than her, he realized solemnly. She was already exhibiting genetic traits of the royal family, and will have that same horrible trait as their mother.

To make matters worse, she was mentally even more advanced than she was physically. She knew the fate that was before her; she might have asked him a question, but he knew that she already knew the answer, and that she wouldn't accept a lie. He only looked at her despairingly. "Atsa…"

She stopped chewing on her lip, but she frowned deeply. "I don't wanna be stuck in the castle all day. I wanna go out and fight and explore. I wanna travel and see things."

He didn't need to be told that; he already saw the fact well in the majestic, dreamy stare she held towards the armies and when she was brought to new lands… the harsher the planet, the more interesting to her; the stronger the warrior, the more she wanted to watch rather than run away.

Derosen knew well that Atsa wanted to be a warrior in heart, and he knew in his heart that he would sooner eat glass than see his little sister go through the same pain as their mother. He didn't want to see her raving in a sick bed like she was inflicted with nightmares, with sweat pouring down her body and soaking her sheets. He didn't want to see his little sister coming close to death because of something like that. All at once, he felt very protective of his kid sibling, but he knew that there was no way to ward off genetics. Unless…

"Atsa, I want you to promise me something."

"Huh?"

"Don't get married. Don't get pregnant. Don't get yourself in the position where you can end up like this."

Her eyes widened, but she didn't answer.

He kept her eyes locked to his own with a serious stare. "Please, listen to me. If you just stay away from getting yourself pregnant, and you just don't get married or anything like that, something like this wont happen to you. You won't get crippled like Mother, and you can stay fighting and traveling for as long as you want."

The flaring in her eyes lessened, but she continued to stare incredulously. "But…"

He shook his head. "Don't worry about keeping the line. I'll be able to do that. I'll make sure that I have plenty of children, both boys and girls, so you don't have to do anything. I don't have to worry about that trait since I'm male, and no women outside the royal family have that trait anymore, so whoever I marry won't have it either." Derosen failed to factor in at the time that his daughters would still inherit the trait through him, but it didn't really matter to the argument. "Please, promise me that."

Little Atsarute looked at him in astonishment, as if she wanted to ask "Am I allowed?" but she nodded and felt herself pulled into her brothers arms. The little confused girl instantly felt more peaceful. He didn't hug her often, but he was the closest thing she had to a best friend, and he was comforting her, telling her that she could do as she wished and even offered her a solution to her dilemma.

How could she have refused?

.-.-.-.-.-.-.

Piccolo was a little more that surprised to see that the man who had been two centimeters from killing him (with all the ability to do so) just a few minutes ago sobbing with such pitiable wretchedness that you'd think he'd been a man who came to his childhood home to see the entire town in ruin rather than one simply concerned for his sister's well-being. Her health wasn't even in any danger. He could only speculate wildly on what that "promise" was.

It seemed like the tears were enough to rouse her out anyway. The door slid open with a slight mechanical _whoosh_, and there stood Atsarute, her lips turned in impatience, but her eyes showing light, earnest sadness. "You look as wimpy as a kicked puppy."

He wiped his red eyes and smirked back at her. "You look as haggard as an old mule."

She scoffed at the remark and stood to the side. "Come on. You want to talk, we'll talk."

Just as he moved to enter, two more green figures almost rushed to the frame as well, both looking intent on leaping in if Atsarute didn't keep the door open for them. She rolled her eyes at her father and Piccolo. "I never can talk to just one person at a time, can I?"

"Can't a father be worried about his daughter?" Naiosai promptly answered, giving a half-smile to show his delight that his little girl still retained enough of her health and mind to maintain her surly humor.

"And I've got just as much to talk to you about as your brother does," Piccolo quickly added. Of course, he didn't say that for a fact since he didn't really know what was going on, but he surmised that being the father of the child that she had been carrying until this battle was at least as important as whatever Derosen needed to say.

Derosen's anger seemed to have been quickly remembered, and he scowled at the Namek. "I suggest that you run and hide so that I never find that despicable hide, since I'll surely hunt you down and skin you alive…"

Atsarute promptly pinched her brother on the arm. "Give him a break. He didn't know about that trait, and it was more _my_ fault anyway. I was the one trying to be careful, and just got impregnated by accident during that blasted binding ritual. No permanent damage was done, Dero. Let's just go inside and talk." Without another word, or a chance for any more words to be exchanged between the four in that position, she shut the door.

Piccolo and Naiosai were left standing awkwardly in the hall. Much time passed before Piccolo turned to the other. "Hey."

The king looked back at him with a brow up.

"That song, about the most dangerous things, the one that Atsa sings all the time and apparently learned from you."

"Oh, yes," he looked a little surprised that Piccolo was actually trying to start a conversation about something like that. He took it as a pleasant surprise and chose not to take an offensive air. He spouted out the Puroeriun name and the chorus in the native tongue. "What about it do you want to know?"

"I figured out the pregnant woman's scream… but the dying man's breath… Does that refer to a curse by a dying man?"

He nodded. "Precisely. It also has to do with an old legend about the breath of the dead in the shadow of the cursed, or something like that. I'm pretty sure one of the verses talk about it, something about being carried by pure waters."

"Ah," Piccolo nodded unenthusiastically. What a way to be confirmed of something so incredible with such apathetic tones! At least he knew where Atsa got it.

Silence went on again until, this time, Naiosai spoke. "You seem to be taking this well… I mean, that you had an unborn kid that ended up miscarried before you heard about it." He left a pause before he realized that Piccolo wasn't going to answer. "…You're trying not to think about it, aren't you?"

Piccolo didn't from his straightforward, into-the-distance gaze. "Putting every thought and mental exercise through my mind to keep me from doing so."

"Ah. I did that too, especially with Aikanefi's first miscarriage." He patted a hand on his shoulder and began to walk off. "You'll get over it as soon as you get kids to replace it. Hell, you're a Namek; you bunch can have a dozen more, and usually do."

Naiosai seemed to have found a room to loiter in, and a door opened and shut to leave Piccolo alone. "Definitely where Atsa got it," the lone Namek mused.

* * *

I figured that this is long enough for a chapter. More explanation than anything, since I suppose not a lot of action happened, but, holy crap, answers!  
Now, I really should do my paper on Pre-Socratic philosophy.


	44. Sour Liquor

Disclaimer: 2.

I see light! Light at the end of the tunnel!

* * *

Piccolo didn't have his chance to talk to Atsarute about what had happened. News spread like wildfire of the trouble that she had experienced in the battle against Funzen and Komugiko, and she was the kind of person that had enemies all across this side of the Red Stream. Many of her bases and interests were attacked within hours of the result of the battle. She hadn't even finished the conversation with her brother before she was running out and pushing Piccolo out of the way, off to defend her property without a second thought on the dilemma that she'd let fall into the laps of her closest.

Luckily, the type to have so many enemies also has acquaintances across the star map that owe her one. She was in battle by the end of the day, and thus was started another war right after she'd effectively driven the last nail into the Pasuko-jin threat. Red lights were flashing, and she had to protect her borders, lest she lose not only personal wealth, but valuable connections for her as well as the Puroeriun. Personal affairs weren't part of this equation.

A few days into battle turned into weeks, and before Piccolo knew what was happening, it had been over a month since he'd seen her. But he was busy as well. His connection and cooperation with Atsarute had made him a good enough target for Atsarute's enemies to cock their bows towards. They weren't outright against Katatsu-sei, not willing to antagonize the whole Namekku-sei-jin race by attacking their largest political center, so Piccolo found that many of the strikes were meant for _him_ and only him. But he still got help from the other Namekku-sei-jin generals when it was needed, and they more than once reached out to aid Atsarute, Katatsu himself being an old friend to the Puroeriun royal family.

On the most recent of battles, Piccolo found himself defending against an offense formed from a Southern part of the universe. He didn't expect them to be quite so strong; then again, almost every army he's fought seemed stronger than the Puroeriun, who, though having several good fighters and strategists, had relied on the mass of their armies and often did little more than rush into battle and hope the enemy would disperse in the struggle. But this army was unusually strong, and with a good strategist to boot. They chose to strike at Piccolo, seeing him as a likely weak point among Atsarute's allies (being that he's the youngest and most inexperienced general).

For a while, he wasn't quite sure if he'd be able to come out of the battle alive. But during the fight, the enemy was flanked on all other sides. Berra-sei-jin soldiers covered two sides, a truly large army since their planet was particularly martial in its culture and government. There was no doubt to Piccolo as to who was leading them. As to the remaining side, it was covered by a considerably smaller army of Namekku-sei-jin females… only Namekku-sei-jin females. The ornate uniforms they wore took a while to click into Piccolo's mind: they were the praetorian guard of Resuma herself; a small, elite force of Namekku-sei-jin females that acted only by the orders of Katatsu's wife.

After getting this kind of help, the enemy was quickly dismissed. Some casualties were taken on Piccolo's front, but it wasn't as bad as what would have happened if he'd lost. As soon as possible, he put out a summons to meet with the generals that had come to his aid. No sooner than when he reached his private quarters and was pulling off the uncomfortable partial armor than did his door open with a quiet _swff_, and the steps of a large man hit against the floor.

Piccolo looked up and grinned. Before him was the prince of Berra-sei, in full armor as usual, but instead of the garish ceremonial armor that he always wore, he wore duller, more practical armor that was tarnished by the recent battle. But it still reminded Piccolo of some weird combination between a Roman soldier and a samurai. He suppressed a chuckle as he remembered Atsarute's comment during the binding ritual, laughing and saying that Kenturion looked skinny without that armor he always wore.

"Strange meetings, eh?" Kenturion said with a smile, quickly taking a seat before Piccolo could say a word.

"Strange, indeed. I can't understand how you can wear all that armor. Even this partial stuff issued to my men is uncomfortable." The Namek busied himself with the small bar on the wall of his quarters.

He shrugged. "You get used to it."

"So everyone else tells me." He pulled out some glasses. "What will you take?"

"Eh, have any Magna liquors?"

Piccolo looked back at him with a raised brow. "You drink that stuff?"

"Not normally, but I need something strong right now."

"Strong," he snorted, "I'm still trying to get used to the junk." He pulled out a bottle of greenish liquid and started pouring into two glasses. "Atsa says it eats away the lining of your stomach if you're not careful."

"It does. Most people get put under the table just because of how quickly it goes to the bloodstream because of that. But that one soldier of hers, Jakko? He can drink two mugs of it without a problem. Boggles my mind."

Piccolo nodded and put away the bottles, coming back towards the sitting area and handing Kenturion a glass. "Why did you come to help me?"

Kenturion accepted the glass and contemplated on the liquid a few seconds as Piccolo also took a seat. The liquor didn't seem to provide any clues, and the prince sighed. "I have several reasons, but mostly, I need to speak with you on something."

Piccolo frowned, and tried to cover the reacting with the glass as he drank from it. It didn't help; the strong liquor just made his face curl sour even more. But he left his silence as a prod for Kenturion to continue, already knowing that it had something to do with Atsarute's pregnancy and recent miscarriage.

"I've talked with Sanatoasu on the subject, and we've come up with a proposition. He's currently aiding Atsarute's armies with his own, and has been using the opportunity to speak with her on it."

"No doubt, he's also using the opportunity to propose marriage with her again," Piccolo said abjectively with a scoff as he attempted another drink at the alien liquor. The comment was meant to be a kind of surely humor in the conversation, from how Atsarute often makes light of the frequent, half-hearted proposals of the Lord. But the look on Kenturion's face told him that it struck much closer to home than he intended.

Then was a long silence.

"Piccolo, you're not strong enough to win against Atsarute in battle, and there's no way that she'll stop training and let you catch up. The only one that can pass all of the suitor trials including combat with her is Sanatoasu."

He resisted the urge to throw the glass down onto the floor. "What kind of insult is this? I suppose your help in the battle was to emphasize that I have no power in the matter by saving my life?"

"It's no insult upon you," Kenturion said quickly. "It's a failsafe for mutual interests. Atsa isn't in any less light now than she was before. The fact that she's shown weakness has brought her enemies up in arms, but that's not all. Her other suitors have been looking at trying attempts at her again, and then some. You seem to forget that she's not the least eligible woman in the galaxy by any means, with large armies, personal wealth, and a seat in royalty. She can't afford to wait for you to become stronger than her."

Piccolo sneered at him, then shook his head and downed the rest of the liquor. He slammed the empty glass down on the table as he visibly brought himself back under logical control. "And the binding ritual? Am I supposed to think of that as just ceremonial baggage that has no weight on these matters?"

"Oh no. This isn't in any disrespect to the binding; the two of you are still bound together unless you say otherwise. Nothing in Puroeriun law states that she cannot have more than one mate. And I think you don't have to worry about being married off by your family. I mean, it's looked down upon when a male has multiple bindings in your society, right?"

Fact was, it was a punishable offense on Katatsu-sei, and those who tried to get away with it were harassed, sometimes to the point of lynching. But Piccolo didn't mention this. "You have a point. But I don't think my family would quite appreciate all this. I mean, being bound to a married non-Namekku-sei-jin…"

"I'm not so sure about that."

On cue it seemed, the door opened again, and two Namekkian women entered the room. Both were wearing the distinctive uniforms associated with the elite guard, devoid of any partial armor since the bright cloth was specially designed and reinforced for protection in combat. The "hair" on both of them had turned waxy yellow, as had the patches on what was visible of their arms, exhibiting that both of them were elderly. But one looked particularly old, somewhat hunched over from age. They smiled at Piccolo.

He wasn't so sure how to react to this. He knew that the elite guard was under his grandmother's command, and that his mother was one of the generals, but he certainly didn't expect to see that both of them had been fighting. He stammered over a greeting in Namekku-go and invited them to sit down, glancing over at Kenturion as he did. The prince looked as if he was suppressing a laugh.

"You seem quite surprised to see us, my grandson," Resuma began, still smiling warmly, "Perhaps it does seem a little unorthodox, but I am not the type to let my grandchildren become overwhelmed in battle. Especially when I still haven't had the chance to get to know you."

That wasn't an accident or merely due to Piccolo's rather recent arrival into the family. Piccolo notedly avoided the rest of the family whenever possible after their first meeting. He had no interest in speaking to them any more than he had to, and although he actually liked the idea at first of having power by being in direct line for inheriting Katatsu's kingdom, he came to realize that he'd be waist deep in politics, a creation of society, which was, in turn, a creation of social entities. An introvert such as him found the situation appalling, and hated being continually reminded of it. That and he didn't want to bother with family; he didn't have any before, he was fine without having any now.

Mollosuki mirrored the smile, perhaps a little more warmly. "And don't you dare think that I'd let one of _my_ children, who I've been separated from for so long, die if I have anything to do about it! I convinced Resuma to help strike in your defense, but it didn't take much to convince her."

"And since we've gotten some time to speak with you finally,"—Resuma nodded sagely—"I would like to speak with you about your binding with Atsarute."

"So, you've heard about that…" Piccolo looked down at his empty glass, wishing that he hadn't gulped it down earlier and wondering if it would be against some sort of protocol to get another drink while Resuma was talking.

"I must say, it makes me happy that someone in this family has been able to snag her."

His eyes shot up to her in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Yes, that girl was certainly hard to get. Katatsu and I have been very involved in our alliance with the Puroeriun, and she's the one with much of the promise. I've allowed many of my grandchildren to join her ranks in hope that they'd be able to convince her to marry someone. I've even hoped that Suraku would succeed in wooing her somehow, though he was rather young when he entered her army. I've gone so far as push some of your uncles while they were unmarried to act as suitors." She crossed her arms. "I thought for sure that Kurabesu could've, since he was stronger than her, but he didn't get past the other challenges to fight her."

"Wait, hold on a second," Piccolo shook his head and put his hands up for emphasis. "You're telling me that you _approve_ of this?"

"Well, certainly, dear!" Mollosuki said, "A union between the two of you is _very_ advantageous. And she's a sweet girl… well, perhaps 'sweet' isn't the word. But you know what I mean."

He didn't, but that wasn't his concern at the moment. "And it doesn't bother you that I probably wont be able to win in battle against her myself anytime soon? That means that she'll likely have to marry someone else…"

"What problem is that?" Mollosuki shrugged. "She's a woman."

Resuma waved this away as well. "I was going to arrange a marriage for you with girl that had another husband anyway. I don't have a problem if Atsarute has five or six husbands along with you bound to her."

He stared long and hard at his grandmother; he wasn't sure if he should take her comment well or not. Then he looked over at Kenturion, who was attempting to feign a look of innocence as he bit his lip to keep from grinning. It was obviously failing. "You were the one who told them."

Kenturion casually put a hand before his face to hide his smile and spoke haltingly, trying with effort to not laugh. "I…don't know what… what you're talking about."

"It was either you or Sanatoasu, and seeing as you appeared with them to aid me and currently trying with every ounce of your self-control to keep from bursting out in laughter, I'm going to venture a guess that it's you."

"I don't… know what you're…" He paused for a longer while, his chest twitching with suppressed laughter. "…talking about."

"Bullshit, you don't know. Why are you trying so hard to get this plan to go through? It's not like you're the one that would be marrying Atsarute."

"Oh…that's true." But his amused behavior didn't change in the least.

Piccolo might not have been one for social interaction, but he knew when someone was keeping a secret and was on the brim of spilling it all out. "What else do you need to tell me?"

"Oh no… nothing really… but…"

"But what?"

"_Bamata_."

"…What?"

"_Bamata_. It's a Berra-go word, so you probably never heard it before. It's a word for a female lover, but we usually have the word in reference to courtly love. It's highly political sometimes, since its usually only amongst royalty and aristocracy." He grinned. "It only applies to married women who've had sex with men not their husbands before."

"So you do have a personal interest in this!" He growled, forgetting his mother and grandmother. "Atsa lied when she said you 'grew out' of your attitude. You're still a cocky bastard."

"And you're a sly motherfucker and Sanatoasu's a naïve prick and Atsa's a crazy bitch. One big, happy family."

* * *

Kurabesu – Claves.  
Yawn. Not a lot of action, but its some fun, and finished in one day. 


	45. The Ol' FullCircle

Disclaimer: For the last time, it's in chapter two.

Reluctance and anxiety… these exist when an ending approaches. But, with these, also exists a relief that it's finally over.

* * *

Things calmed down eventually, and the trials for General Atsarute's hand in marriage had been renewed. As predicted, several more suitors than normal had come, but very few could find themselves get past the prerequisite trials. These trials had been meticulously designed by both Aikanefi, who wanted nothing less than the perfect husband for her daughter, and Atsarute, who simply disliked the institution of marriage all together. When going through these trials, which seemed to Piccolo to be a mix of the Labors of Hercules and the entrance exams for a high-profile school, he remembered Atsarute's joke from months ago that she had considered having no pulse being a test, but she feared that the undead would start to enter. He had before chuckled at this thought, thinking it ironic when many had considered her undead not long ago. Now, he'd prefer such a test to these unusual games and esoteric questions. 

In fact, there seemed to have been only three to pass the trials well enough to do the battle with Atsarute. Piccolo frowned at Kenturion and Sanatoasu.

"I find it interesting that you're in this when the plan was to get Sanatoasu to marry her, Kenturion."

The prince frowned back at him. "I could say the same thing to you, but there seems to have been a change of plans…"

"A change of plans?" Piccolo's brow rose. "How?"

"I told Atsarute about what we were going to do," Sanatoasu began with a sigh, "She wasn't very happy about it, and said that blocking marriage with marriage was an imbecilic idea. In fact, she said that she'd do whatever was in her power to thwart it. So, I told Kenturion to come as well, to have more backing in case she does something too drastic."

"And I wasn't contacted about this?" Piccolo returned, his scowl getting that much deeper.

"Well, I guess it doesn't matter, now," Sanatoasu replied with a shrug, "You are here, even though we didn't tell you."

Piccolo was fully prepared to loudly retort that the two were conspiring to get Atsarute for themselves with this move when someone else entered the room. The three of them whirled around from their argument to see the Queen Aikanefi coming towards them in the chamber.

She stopped before them and looked the three down for a few moments, an unimpressed frown on her face as she inspected them without a word. Finally, she huffed and shook her head. "Only three pass out of so many, and, when I should be able to expect the highest quality suitors to survive from this elimination, I get these! A pompous prince, an over-celebrated lord, and a disrespectful Namek!"

Piccolo frowned at the insult. "What did I do?"

Sanatoasu sighed. "She just gets it into her head to hate people. Once, she lured me into a box and trapped me, then threw the box into a black hole."

"What?" Piccolo blinked. "That's damn harsh. How did she lure you into the box anyway?"

"I, uhh, don't want to talk about it…"

Kenturion answered for him. "She put a thimble in the box."

"A _thimble_?"

"I… uhh… collect them…"

"By the gods, Kenturion's right. You _are_ naïve."

Aikanefi didn't seem to enjoy being ignored by the likes of these men, and she shouted for their attention again. "This is what I mean by disrespect! All three of you are so inflated by your positions that you lack any manners whatsoever!"

"Cool down your insults, Mother," another voice called, "As it so happens, I'm not marrying any of them."

Atsarute had now entered the room, looking to be in a foul mood as she glared at all about her, seeming as if every creature nearby was performing a heinous crime by simply breathing in her presence. A large, luminous yellow belt with a red star in the center encircled her waist, gaudy and unlike the rest of her more somber dress. The court minstrels rose to begin a fanfare for her arrival, but she quickly barked an order and they quickly, nervously sat back down, fidgeting with their trumpets.

The woman was known to be surly, but not with such spiteful temperament as she now exhibited in her mere demeanor, so the queen was easy to pick up upon her daughter's unusual attitude. "What has put you into such an anger, Atsarute?"

She sneered. "I just lost in one-on-one combat."

A silence charged into the room. The queen, obviously shaken, asked first, formally, "Umm… who has beaten my daughter alone on this day… so that I might know their name for the next generation?"

Atsarute shook her head. "It's not like that, Mother. This wasn't a battle for marriage. I was simply having a fight of goodwill with someone and lost." She hissed the last word and her frown deepened. "Damn, that Son Goku… I didn't imagine that he'd be able to surpass me like that…And so suddenly."

A smile crept across Piccolo's face. _Son did it again… he beat another almost impossibly strong person in battle. Damn him and his strength,_ he thought, the beginnings of a chuckle in his throat.

"Then… why do you announce that you will not be marrying any of these men?" Her mother was quick to the point. "The trials demand that you must fight them before that can be announced, and they have not entered the battle stage yet."

"Not if I'm excluded from the institutions of marriage, Mother."

"But you are _not_ excluded! You are well of age for marriage and your not yet married, so you are still eligible!"

A little bit of smugness and victory managed to come into Atsarute. "In order to strengthen alliances with the Namekku-sei-jin, I have made an agreement with Katatsu. I have assumed the position of one who guards an artifact of their people. This position is usually held by men, but the laws for it does not exclude women or foreigners. It _does_, however, require the protector to not be bound in an institution of marriage." She allowed a brief grin to grace her lips. "In other words, I've dodged the matrimonial bullet, Mother."

As Atsarute had explained this, the queen seemed to be in shock, but by the time she had finished, Aikanefi was pulling out of it and working herself into a fury, and immediately burst into a shout. "You do such subversive things to avoid _marriage_? How long will you wait until you bring grandchildren to secure the seat that I now reserve for you! And why have you not discussed this with me before? Where is Katatsu? I must speak with him and his vulgarity in this matter!"

"He's in the castle, along with Resuma." As if on cue, there was a distant explosion and a slight rumble in the ground. "They're… discussing the matter as we speak. Resuma didn't seem pleased with his involvement, either."

Aikanefi stormed off in the direction of the explosion, still hissing scorn and abuse, so furious that she didn't even notice that some of her sarashi-like wrapping and unraveled slightly and was now trailing behind her, making her appear even more disheveled in her anger. Atsarute seemed amused slightly by her mother's loss of patience, but the grin fell away and she looked at the three men before her. "Well, what are the three of you standing around for? You've got no reason to be here any more! The marriage trials have been canceled!"

The three of them would have all wished to yell at her in turn for their various frustrations, not the least of which including the work they had put in to pass the other trials to get to this final point. But, seeing that Atsarute was in a volatile state herself, swallowed their disdainfulness and found themselves spouting more diplomatic words before excusing themselves from her presence. Even Sanatoasu, who knew that he could best Atsarute in battle, found himself unwilling to press her too far this time. He knew from experience that she wasn't the most pleasant of company when she was defeated, and now she seemed to have something else bugging her on top of that. They might call him naïve, but he knew a short fuse when he saw one.

But Piccolo had not fully exited the chamber when Atsarute left through another door, and his curiosity got the best of him. After all, he had been beaten by Son Goku himself, and he never had been able to climb and hold power over him again. If nothing else, he could offer a spot of convergence on the matter and use that to shield himself from whatever other angers she might have had. He followed her out the chamber and up the staircase and into a sitting room.

She sat down upon a reclining couch and clasped her hands between her knees, leaning forward with a derisive grin on her face. "If I hadn't watched the recording of your defeat by Son Goku, I would not have allowed you to follow. But, of course, you knew that, otherwise you wouldn't have attempted." She gave a scoff. "At least I have the luxury to know that my defeat will not be so publicized."

"Son Goku has that ability to surpass you when you never thought it possible," he returned with a grin just as spiteful. "But what else bothers you? You weren't this unapproachable after I saw you defeated by Sanatoasu. I doubt you would have snapped at your mother even then."

"I might've, if only for amusement," she replied and stretched out on the couch. For a moment, he remembered Jin Uotsuka, lounging upon the couch in the old apartment, as she was wont to do years ago. The inclination passed as quickly as it came, however, and he did not linger on the thought.

"I guess these is something else bothering me," she answered, then worked out a kink in her shoulder as she lay on the cushions, "I've been in a weird… eh, I guess you could call it a 'funk', ever since I saw Suraku's fiancée this morning."

"Didn't like her?"

"No, she was, eh, nice enough, and pretty enough, I guess…" Atsarute frowned. "I can't really explain it. When I first met her, I was just a bit proud for Suraku, you know? I knew he was old enough to get married, so I really just thought I should be happy for him. And I was… I still am. But, something… When they started talking to each other, something they said made me feel… well…suddenly _old_. That's the only way I could put it."

Piccolo chuckled. "Nevermind that you'll live for many years to come."

"It's more complicated than that," she retorted with a grimace, "Or maybe it's not. It's hard to explain, damnit."

He decided to let the subject drop. "And the artifact that you agreed to protect for my grandfather? What is it?"

"I'm wearing it."

He raised a brow, then looked squarely on the belt. "_That_ thing? You agreed to watch that? What is it?"

She smirked. "You really don't know?"

"All I know is it appears to be an absurd champion belt… and it looks _terrible_ on you."

"You of all people don't recognize it?" She said again, a laugh coming into her. "I would have thought… you being in the royal family, connected to a set on Earth, _and_ resurrected with a set on Namekku-sei. But maybe you're fooled into thinking that they must be spherical in shape."

Piccolo blink, and it took him several moments to digest the implication. "You're wearing a dragonball! It's a belt shaped dragonball!"

"Bingo." She winked. "This is the one-star ball from Katatsu's set. He had the foresight and skill to make the balls into different shapes… making them much more difficult to find, you see. Especially when they turn to stone… One's made into the shape of a bowl, as I recall. Probably in some unassuming antique shop on Katatsu-sei at this moment, under an old doll and covered with dust."

"And, to protect them with knowledge, you must be unmarried?"

"That's the rule. Not sure why, to be honest, but I agreed to it. As I understand it, you can still have bindings and even children, just not marriage. It probably has something to do with protection from greedy in-laws, but I'm not about to question it when that restriction actually grants me a freedom."

"You certainly dislike the idea of marriage."

"What can I say?" She smiled. "The very concept of commitment scares me shitless."

"Says the woman with the responsibility of an entire army."

"Meh, if they were such a responsibility, I wouldn't be thinking of a long vacation and leaving command in the hands of my officers for a while." Atsa seemed to have enough of reclining on the couch and sat erect, working out stiffness in her neck and shoulders again for a moment before rising to her feet. "But I do have to put some preparations before I leave. Not many… most of the big work has already been done. By the way, I think your protégée and his girl had just come in through the Three Twenty-Two. They're waiting upstairs in the ambassador area we made in the room beside the device. Something about some news to give you." She laughed and went to leave. "I'll bet you'll feel old by the end of the day, too."

"Unlikely," he said with a shake of his head, "but one last question."

She looked over her shoulder, as if annoyed, but she did not bother to hide her growing mirth. "Insufferable. Speak your question quickly, Namek, before I drag you before your elders and gut you."

"You're not forbidden to have children? So, do you plan on dismissing your promise to your brother again?"

She turned from him, looking ahead and out the door, but she spoke her answer. "I can have children and not put myself in the danger that my brother fears for me." She tapped the dragonball around her waist. "It just so happens, this thing makes wonderful armor, and it quite easily covers my ovaries."

He smiled and did not ask the obvious question to follow that, knowing that what she'd already answered had already satisfied the thought, and he didn't stop her from leaving this time, alone in the room for long moments, contemplating what kind of future this promised and remembering how it lead up to this.

Gohan and Videl were waiting, though, and he had to curb his thoughts. He had plenty of time to think of such things later. He still hadn't memorized the layout of the castle to know where the Three Twenty-Two was immediately, so he picked up their ki and went through the corridors, being careful not to get himself lost in the halls along the way. He was able to make out their voices long before he reached the doorway, but didn't stop his advance until almost right outside the door. They were currently having a discussion that seemed about two steps away from a full-blown argument, and he didn't have any wish to intrude on such matters.

"I can afford a place easily, Gohan," Videl huffed, looking away from him, "I just don't feel like I can live in Satan City with my father for any longer. He knows that I'm not his little girl anymore, but he still tries to lay down rules on me. I think I should live… alone for a while."

"But, with Goten getting older, and the house getting more crowded since Otou-san's lived with us again, I've already been making myself a place nearby for myself… one to hold my books and such. I don't have a lot of furniture yet, but you know that I'll have room. I can sleep on the couch, and you could have the bedroom; or the other way around if you like. Until I get another bed."

"I… can't impose on you. Besides, I need to live alone for a while… make sure that I'm ready to live with a boy, you know?"

Gohan pursed his lips. "I'd rather you were with me. You've been trying to avoid me lately, and I want to know—"

"Is that why you've brought me here to see Piccolo? Do you think that just because he's a big, green alien that has a lot of power in another world that I'll listen to what he says for you?"

"No, but he is pretty wise, and I've always respected him as much as my—"

"Yes, I know! You respect him as much as your O-tou-san! I've heard you say it again and again, among other things, and all I can think about is getting some space! You're nice and everything, but it can be too much, and you won't force me to live with you!"

He was silent for a long while. "I can, and not through force. I actually have the solution… I have it in the form of a ring in my pocket."

Her eyes widened. "That… you actually have a…" A thick blush seized her face and she looked to the ground shyly. "To be so upfront and brash about something like that… and you haven't even been hinting around it before. You're usually careful and transparent in these kinds of things…" Her eyes rose to find his again. "Why, without any warning? It's so unlike you to be so sudden."

Piccolo knew Gohan's next words so well as if they had come out of his own mouth.

"Maybe I just want to do something out of character."

The Namek shook his head and walked away from the door, shutting his ears to Videl's subsequent gasps of overwhelmed and confused joy, suddenly feeling quite old.

* * *

That was The End, my friends. It's finally over. The three-part epic is finally done. Anything else that I might do would be prequels. But I'm not extending this story of Atsarute and Piccolo anymore. A long wait for an ending, I know, but it's an ending.  
Sayonara. 


End file.
